Eliphalet Jr. Brown

BROWN, Eliphalet Jr. (1816-1886) Massachusetts, USA.

Historian, portrait artist, and lithographer. Official photographer for Commodore Perry's naval squadron (called "black ships" by the Japanese) that arrived in Japan (Okinawa, Shimoda, Yokohama, and Hakodate) in 1853-54.

Took hundreds of daguerreotype photos of people and scenics in Shimoda (Shizuoka Pref.) and Hakodate (Hokkaido). Some of these images were used to make lithographs which found their way in A Journal of the Perry Expedition to Japan 1853-1854 by Samual Wells Williams, published in 1856. The print shop which printed this document was destroyed by fire and almost all of Brown's original daguerreotypes were lost. (2000.12.15)