Two unpublished photographic portraits of the American conchologist William Harper Pease (1824–1871)

Abstract

A likeness of William Harper Pease, best known for his conchological exploration of the Hawaiian Islands, has remained unknown since his untimely death in 1871 at the age of 47. Recently, however, two photographic portraits of Pease have been identified in the archives of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu. The best of the two is a carte-de-visite of the typical size, showing Pease as a man in his mid- to late 30s, clean-shaven except for long, thick sideburns. Self-trained and highly motivated, Pease built an enormous collection of shells during his twenty years in the Hawaiian Islands, representing more than 4,000 species. Isolated though he was, he published 59 papers in reputable journals, describing and naming more than 500 species of mollusks.