The Daguerreian Society's 2008 Symposium will be held in Washington DC from Thursday, November 6 to Sunday, November 9, 2008. Our headquarters hotel will be the Washington Marriott. 1221 22nd Street NW; Washington, DC 20037. Our hosting institution will be the National Portrait Gallery and our host will be its Curator of Photographs Ann Shumard.

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (NPG) tells the stories of America through the individuals who have shaped U.S. culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists who speak American history.

Location: The museum is conveniently located at Eighth and F Streets, NW, D.C., 20001, in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.

Museum Hours: 11:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. daily

Admission: FREE

If you have never visited this wonderful museum, this is your chance. It is the visual history of America and our Society strongly emphasizes the historical and the visual. It is a perfect fit.

We have not decided on our entire speaker line-up yet, but that information will be posted here as soon as it becomes available. Member Larry West recently gifted his extraordinary collection of 19th-century American photographers' portraits, self-portraits, and related ephemera to the NPG. Works from this collection as well as a loan exhibition featuring highlights from Larry's photographic jewelry collection will be on display at the time of our meeting. We will hold the Thursday evening welcoming party in the stunning, glass-enclosed Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard and hold the lectures in the museum's new Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium.

The Symposium headquarters will be the Washington Marriott at 21 22nd Street NW, Washington, District Of Columbia 20037 USA.

Toll-free phone: 1-800-393-3053

Toll phone: 1-202-872-1500

Fax: 1-202-872-1424

The newly renovated Washington Marriott Hotel in downtown Washington DC is ideally located steps away from historic Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, and DC`s central business district. This warm and welcoming hotel is also conveniently located near George Washington University, Georgetown University, the Kennedy Center, and the Washington Convention Center. Symposium attendees receive a special rate of $139/night on room bookings during the event but you must ask for the Daguerreian Society rate. However, please book early, the number of rooms available at this rate is limited! Click here to make your Marriott reservation, at the special rate, on line.

The preliminary program will be:

Thursday evening: Welcoming cocktail party at the National Portrait Gallery

Friday morning: Lectures at National Portrait Gallery state of the art auditorium

Friday noon: Group daguerreotype (location to be determined)

Friday afternoon: Lectures at National Portrait Gallery auditorium

Saturday: Tradefair at the Washington Marriott

Saturday evening: Cocktail hour and Annual Banquet at the Washington Marriott

Sunday morning: Annual business meeting at the Washington Marriott

We are still accepting lecture proposals for presentations at National Portrait Gallery, so if you have a presentation that can be ready by November, contact us NOW at info@daguerre.org and let's see if it can be on this years program.

The Daguerreian Society sponsors a four day Symposium during the Fall of every year: a full weekend of presentations, a round table discussion and enjoying the company of other persons who love daguerreotypes. Past Symposiums have been held in Rochester, New York; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Norfolk, Virginia; Boston, Massachusetts; Oakland, California; and Atlanta. Society members receive reduced admission to the Symposiums. The Symposium includes:

• A Round Table discussion, and Lecture Presentations on the Daguerreotype
• Exhibitions of daguerreotypes, often in conjunction with an institution
• The Daguerreian Society TradeFair with dealers from around the U.S. and Canada, offering the world's largest display of daguerreotypes for sale. Symposium attendees receive free early admission (prior to general public admission).
• An evening Dinner Banquet, which concludes with:
• A lively Benefit Auction of donated and consigned daguerreotypes

The Daguerreian Society's 2007 Symposium was held in Kansas City, Missouri on November 1-4, 2007, at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. This was a grand celebration for the Hallmark Photographic collection which was recently acquired by the museum, and it was the show of the century! The museum's 165,000 sq. foot, six-year-long expansion includes a gallery designed specifically to display its photographic treasures.

The museum's opening exhibition, Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885, surveyed the remarkable achievements from the birth of photography in 1839 to the rise of the amateur in the mid-1880s. It was a great exhibition to be sure but, for our membership, it will be the daguerreotypes that stole the show -- and Keith Davis (the longtime director of Hallmark's fine arts program who now also is curator of photography at Nelson-Atkins) has gathered many amazing daguerreotypes over the years. They shone in all their glory for Symposium attendees the first weekend of November 2007.

For a full report on the Society's KC Symposium, download Newsletter 2007, Issue 4.