1840s Men's clothing Styles
Not until I bought my Carte de Viste, believed by- only me- to be Joseph Smith , I had the daunting task of researching this image as a serious contender of maybe being Joseph Smith (as opposed to being a cheerleader for "whoever owns this..."), no longer was I just making death mask superimposition videos, I had to ask more indepth questions to REALLY find out if this COULD be Joseph Smith, if not for the 3 people who saw my 2017 videos, but for my own psyche. Did Joseph Smith own clothing that matched my image that was passed down to his children? Did artists depict him wearing a popped down collar, or was it always a popped up collar?
To say that my anxiety was high, in regards to this basic and fundamental authentication step, would be an understatement, I honestly remember staring at the small CDV I just got in the mail for a day or two scared to research it, but once I did, I was beginning on the fun train of awesome discoveries. In studying men's clothing magazines (full of artwork) and other verified images, found to be taken in the 1840s, (just before Joseph Smith's death 1844), I found that not only did popped down collars become a fad, it seems ONLY in the 1840s did Abraham Lincoln have a double wrapped scarf tucked underneath a thin popped down collar (high up to the jaw line- like my 1840s Illinois Man). I found an image found in the MET gallery of the VERY first daguerreotype in American History (1840) showing a man with the same collar and scarf, along with a salt water print from around 1843, also matching in style. Seen below
www.artsy.net/artwork/hill-and-adamson-john-stuart-wortley-2nd-baron-wharncliffe
https://archive.org/stream/mormonsorlatterd00mackrich/mormonsorlatterd00mackrich#page/123/mode/1up
www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/oliver-cowdery?highlight=Oliver%20Cowdery
www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2005.100.75/
To say that my anxiety was high, in regards to this basic and fundamental authentication step, would be an understatement, I honestly remember staring at the small CDV I just got in the mail for a day or two scared to research it, but once I did, I was beginning on the fun train of awesome discoveries. In studying men's clothing magazines (full of artwork) and other verified images, found to be taken in the 1840s, (just before Joseph Smith's death 1844), I found that not only did popped down collars become a fad, it seems ONLY in the 1840s did Abraham Lincoln have a double wrapped scarf tucked underneath a thin popped down collar (high up to the jaw line- like my 1840s Illinois Man). I found an image found in the MET gallery of the VERY first daguerreotype in American History (1840) showing a man with the same collar and scarf, along with a salt water print from around 1843, also matching in style. Seen below
www.artsy.net/artwork/hill-and-adamson-john-stuart-wortley-2nd-baron-wharncliffe
https://archive.org/stream/mormonsorlatterd00mackrich/mormonsorlatterd00mackrich#page/123/mode/1up
www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/oliver-cowdery?highlight=Oliver%20Cowdery
www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2005.100.75/
Style changes from 1840s, 50s and 60s, displayed by Abraham Lincoln...
Abraham Lincoln lived in Illinois and was working in politics, just as Joseph was, he is a perfect person to compare styles to. Above I compare Abraham Lincoln's changing styles between three different decades; this shows how quickly styles of ties and collars changed: in 1846 (left), 1854 (middle) and 1860. (right). http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html
mentalfloss.com/article/31357/24-vintage-photographs-abe-lincoln
In the 1840s, collars were no longer popped up, as they were in the 1830s, but were popped down slightly; soft scarves, double wrapped sometimes into a soft bowtie were common. By the 1850s, those soft scarves were replaced with flat stiff bowties and by the 1860s (far right photo below of Abraham), bent down collars were VERY low on the neck, thick and bowties got MUCH smaller...
mentalfloss.com/article/31357/24-vintage-photographs-abe-lincoln
In the 1840s, collars were no longer popped up, as they were in the 1830s, but were popped down slightly; soft scarves, double wrapped sometimes into a soft bowtie were common. By the 1850s, those soft scarves were replaced with flat stiff bowties and by the 1860s (far right photo below of Abraham), bent down collars were VERY low on the neck, thick and bowties got MUCH smaller...
Joseph Smith’s Vest
When Joseph Smith died, Emma Smith held on to most of his things, however one of his plural wives, Malissa Lott did get his vest, who then did travel to Utah and is house in a Museum in Salt Lake City, at the Pioneer Memorial Museum. I first found this image in an Ensign Article, showing low resolution images that clearly portray a near exact match to my 1840 Illinois Man, with the dark and light stripes, cross striations in similar areas. This 1984 magazine article shows the dark/light stripes are satin black, blue and white stripes, with black stitching : www.lds.org/ensign/1984/01/from-the-prophets-life-a-photo-essay?lang=eng
Courtesy of the "International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers", photographer- Debra Hatfield. Image shows arrows pointing to stitched swirls evident in the old CDV that is likely of Joseph Smith Jr.
I recently traveled to Salt Lake and gained permission to photograph the vest, in question, and also found his collar, which when compared to images of loan 1800s collars, confirmed to me that his collar was infact a "popped down collar". In person, however, I had a jaw dropping moment where I noticed these black-stitched swirls on this worn, blue-black-white striped vest, matched what looked like swirls in my image.
Artwork Showing 1840s Illinois Man's clothes match drawings of Joseph Smith
One evening I realized that 1840s Illinois Man's lapel matches to a drawing done of Joseph (all of my sources state that it is a drawing by Sutcliff Maudsley); the lapels are both a simple notch (unlike his often depicted blue coat that has a double notch) and have a darker upper.
This drawing of Joseph Smith, shows a similar jacket to my 1840s guy, judging how the notched lapel has a darker upper;
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Possibly Joseph Smith Jr, his lapel matches the Maudsley's lithograph (done in New York apparently), showing Joseph as wearing a lapel with a near black upper on the lapel of a possibly grey, blue jacket). He probably had more than one jacket...
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Engraving of Joseph Smith (sitting) in the Extradition court case of 1843, showing a similar styled hair, popped down collar, dark double wrapped silk scarf- tied into a bow-tie, and receding hairline combed to the side just like my image.
David Hyrum Smith (born in 1844), shown below, drowning in a very large Jacket. David's Dad was very tall, muscular man, I always thought this was his Biological Father's old Jacket. Jacket shown below also matches Maudsley's above drawing, a lot in my opinion. Both jackets have a normal notched Lapel with darker upper.
David Hyrum Smith, born 1844
David Hyrum Smith often wrote about his sadness of never knowing or meeting his deceased father. It is not unreasonable that Emma Smith would hold onto the clothing worn by her late husband, nor for her children to be photographed wearing anything once worn by their father. Emma knew how to sew very well, for her son to be wearing such an ill fitted jacket, there must have been a reason for this jacket to have not been adjusted to fit her boy, such as maintaing the integrity of a jacket worn by his father, Joseph Smith.
I could not find any images of the sons wearing similar vests, I looked and looked, that was when the impression came strongly to simply search online the words, "Vest of Joseph Smith", leading me to an old Ensign article with that above image.
I could not find any images of the sons wearing similar vests, I looked and looked, that was when the impression came strongly to simply search online the words, "Vest of Joseph Smith", leading me to an old Ensign article with that above image.