Before the invention of photography, only the rich could afford to have portraits of themselves. But in the early 1800s, a device called the physiognotrace democratized portraiture, making it possible or everyday people to have their images captured in silhouettes. A man named William Bache traveled the United States creating hundreds of silhouette portraits with the aid of the physiognotrace, leaving behind a ledger book that gives us a rare glimpse of early America. A ledger book…laced with poison.
Guests
Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
Nora Lockshin, senior conservator for archives at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
Wendy Bellion, Sewell C. Biggs Chair in American Art History, and associate dean for the humanities at the University of Delaware
Carolyn Hauk, doctoral student in the art history department of the University of Delaware, former intern at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
Cosmic Journey II: Voyage into the Abyss
Cosmic Journey I: "Stellar Buffoonery"
Cicadapalooza
The Birds and the Beans
Dude, Where’s my Carbon?
Monkeyin' Around on the Devil's Island
Face Value
Jeepers Leapers!
Til Death Do Us Part?
To Sidedoor, With Love
Tails of Bravery
The Milkmaid Spy
Auld Lang What?
Welcome Back, Otter
Wrinkled Radicals
Farewell Giant Pandas
Resurrected: Spooked at the Smithsonian
CSI: Southern Pacific
Cellphones Rock
The 'Gentle Anarchy' of the Muppets
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL