Sixth plate daguerreotype of a lithograph. N.p., ca. 1855. Housed in a heavy, sand-finished brass mat with ornate foliate preserver, enclosed within a full embossed leatherette case lined with a floral scroll-embossed crimson velvet pad. Inventory sticker noting this was sold in Swann Auctions's "Photographs" sale, Lot 424, April 1996. 

This humorous and politically charged plate reproduces the widely circulated 1855 lithograph titled in caption along the bottom, "The 'SMELLING COMMITTEE' Ferreting out / ROMISH HERESY." The scene lampoons the notorious 1855 Massachusetts legislative joint special committee appointed to investigate Catholic educational and religious institutions. This committee was christened by the press as the "Nunnery Committee" or "Smelling Committee." Led by Know-Nothing legislator Joseph Hiss, committee members raided the Sisters of Notre Dame academy in Roxbury, rifling through bedrooms, students' personal belongings, and convent quarters in search of supposed papist intrigue. In this scene, bumbling committee members pry through a nun’s bedroom: one investigator peers under the bed to inspect a chamber pot, another holds up a lady's undergarment with feigned shock, and colleagues crowd through the doorway clutching canes and lanterns. The resulting public scandal, which revealed committee members running up lavish state expense tabs for liquor, cigars, and a woman of ill repute, severely discredited the American ("Know-Nothing") Party in Massachusetts.

Daguerreian reproductions of contemporary political cartoons, satirical lithographs, and nativist controversy are extraordinarily rare, representing fascinating ephemeral crossover pieces between 1850s popular print culture and early photography.

[Daguerreotype, Sixth Plate, Cased Image, Political Cartoon, Political Satire, Know-Nothing Party, American Party, Anti-Catholicism, Nativism, Nunnery Committee, Smelling Committee, Joseph Hiss, Roxbury Massachusetts, Antebellum Politics, 19th Century Photography, Lithograph Copy]

Very good condition. The plate exhibits strong tonal clarity, legible text, and sharp details. We note soft peripheral tarnish along the upper and right mat edges and light scattered dusting. The embossed leather case remains structurally sound with an intact hinge, working clasp, and clean velvet pad.