The Laurence Hutton Collection of Life & Death Masks

(Above) Life mask of William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and death mask of Samuel Hayes Pennington (1806-1900).

(Above) Death mask of Henry Warner Slocum (1827-1894); and death mask of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

(Above) Death mask on decorated shield of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) and life mask of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).

(Above) Life mask of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and life mask of John James Audubon (1785-1851).

(Above) Life mask of John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) and life mask of Abraham Lincoln (1808-1865).


I came across these life and death masks on the Laurence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks at Princeton University’s on-line rare books collection. Looking at one of these is as close to the real thing as you can get. I only wish Lincoln had eyes.

It’s a cool thing to think of someone agreeing to have their face wrapped in plaster of Paris gauze, then sit for it to dry, etc. It’s a very tedious thing to do. The dead ones are always easy. They don’t blink and never complain.

An AM Repost from 1/18/09.

A Smattering of Curiosities

(Above) July 28, 1925. Washington, D.C. “Undelivered Mail of World War I Soldiers (crucifix in bottle).” National Photo Company glass negative.

Repeat after me:
“I will not stare at the thing above his eye. I will not stare at the thing above his eye. I will not stare at the thing above his eye.”
Click for MUCH larger view.

(Above) 1930. “The hen with the mechanical internal organs surprised visitors at the World’s Poultry Congress in London by giving a brief lecture on how she utilized her food to make eggs. Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.” Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. Click for larger view.

(Above) Circa 1920. “Agriculture Department.” Cow jumps over moon: astrophysically impossible? Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. Click for larger image.

1917. “J. Reynolds, performing acrobatic and balancing acts on high cornice above 9th Street N.W.” National Photo Company Collection glass negative.
Click for larger image.

(Above) “Amplifiers at Bolling Field, 1921.” Two giant horns with ear tubes, evidently designed to listen for approaching aircraft. National Photo Co.

This is so great, it could be right out of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s “Architect’s Brother” series— except this is real!
Click for larger view.

(Above) New York circa 1908. “Making a plaster death mask.” 8 x 10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. Click for larger view.

(Above) September 1939. “Paul Bunyan monument at Bemidji, Minnesota.” 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon, Farm Security Administration.
Click for larger image.

(Above) “See what Prince will do for me.” Prince Albert, Ida Cuthbertson’s “famous educated horse.” Brown Studio, Riverside, circa 1909. Click for larger image.

Strange enough to be mistaken for a Joel-Peter Witkin photograph.

(Above) A world’s record 384-pound black sea bass caught by Franklin Schenck of Brooklyn with rod and reel off Catalina Island, California, on August 17, 1900.
Click for larger image.

ALL OF THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE REAL, FROM VARIOUS PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES. The only one I have a slight problem with is the 384 lb. black sea bass photo above, but I am inclined to believe it. It’s a strange world we live in. Very strange, indeed.

All images from Shorpy.