Daguerreotype Missouri Historical Society Numerous photographers undertook ethnological studies, mostly to satisfy curiosity, but few were designed like Street Life to reach an audience that could influence decisions. In America, daguerreotypists such as Thomas Easterly (1809-1882), applied a straight-ahead portrait approach to Native American sitters, giving them the same grave demeanor as everyone else who sat for a daguerreotype. Later stereographs, made by expedition photographers who used the camera to reaffirm their stereotypical beliefs, became the popular method of distributing studies of Native American groups to white society.
