Horace Greeley
1811-1872

In 1869, Harper's Weekly called Horace Greeley "the most perfect Yankee the country has ever produced." Editor, politician, and founder of the New York Tribune, Greeley began his career as a Whig and in 1856 helped establish the new Republican Party. Greeley advocated reform in every sphere, supporting temperance, Transcendentalism, labor unions, and scores of other, less significant causes. His ability to express his idealistic, moral positions in clear, memorable prose won loyal readers for the Tribune. In the 1840s, he urged a generation to "Go West, young man." Under Greeley's leadership, the Tribune became the first national newspaper, circulating by rail and steamboat lines, to unite the country around his moderate, antislavery position. Brady made many portraits of him. This daguerreotype was made around 1851, when Greeley served on the jury for the exhibition in the Crystal Palace in London, where Brady's work earned a medal.

Mathew Brady Studio
Daguerreotype, circa 1851
14 x 10.8 cm (5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches) unframed
Prints and Photographs Division,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.