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IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Robert Dale Owen, 9 Nov 1801 - 24 Jun 1877
Date
c. 1847
Type
Photograph
Medium
Sixth-plate daguerreotype
Dimensions
Image/Sight: 6.7 × 5.4 cm (2 5/8 × 2 1/8")
Mat (brass): 8.2 × 7.1 cm (3 1/4 × 2 13/16")
Case open: 9.5 × 16.9 × 0.7 cm (3 3/4 × 6 5/8 × 1/4")
Case closed: 9.5 × 8.4 × 1.4 cm (3 3/4 × 3 5/16 × 9/16")
Topic
Interior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Beard
Costume\Dress Accessory\Button
Cased object
Robert Dale Owen: Male
Robert Dale Owen: Literature\Writer
Robert Dale Owen: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Social reformer
Robert Dale Owen: Journalism and Media\Magazine editor
Robert Dale Owen: Politics and Government\Diplomat\Minister
Robert Dale Owen: Politics and Government\US Congressman\Indiana
Robert Dale Owen: Politics and Government\State Legislator\Indiana
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Andrew Oliver
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.79.170
Exhibition Label
Born Glasgow, Scotland
Reformer and social theorist Robert Dale Owen arrived in the United States in 1825 to assist his father in establishing New Harmony—a cooperative, utopian community in Indiana. The New Harmony experiment proved to be short-lived, and Owen later allied himself with the “Free Enquirers,” a liberal group that championed an early form of socialism. In 1842, Owen was elected to Congress, where one of his most important acts was introducing the bill that established the Smithsonian Institution. True to his egalitarian principles, Owen insisted that the Smithsonian take as its mission the increase of knowledge and its popular dissemination.
Nacido en Glasgow, Scotland
El reformista y teórico social Robert Dale Owen llegó a Estados Unidos en 1825 para ayudar a su padre en la fundación de New Harmony, una comunidad cooperativa utópica en Indiana. El experimento de New Harmony tuvo corta vida, y Owen prosiguió a asociarse con los “Free Enquirers”, un grupo de librepensadores que promovió un temprana versión del socialismo. En 1842 fue elegido miembro del Congreso. Uno de sus logros más importantes desde allí fue el proyecto de ley para establecer la Smithsonian Institution. Fiel a sus principios de igualdad, Owen insistió en que la institución asumiera la misión de incrementar el conocimiento humano y difundirlo ampliamente.
