Mrs. Dorothy Henderson. Head bent forward, hands controlled and Ectoplasm covering her lap.

The American Museum of Photography:

F. C. E. Dimmick (England)

"Mrs. Dorothy Henderson. Head bent forward, hands controlled and Ectoplasm covering her lap."

Gelatin-silver print, 3.5 x 5 inches

October 2, 1928
Inscribed on verso: "The M.S.A. has a whole series of ectoplasmic photographs which I took under strict test conditions with Mrs. Henderson as the Medium." Further inscribed, "See International Psychic Gazette, December 1928."
The M.S.A. was the Marylebone Spiritualist Association, presumably named for a section of Central London known as Marylebone Village. (To read the article from the International Psychic Gazette describing Mrs. Dorothy Henderson's seances and the making of this photograph, click here.)

Dorothy Henderson may have been the subject of a play written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, based on his experiences in spiritualism. Words Upon the Window Pane opened at the Abbey Theater in Dublin in 1930 and has as its central character a medium named Mrs. Henderson. A coincidence? We hope further research will provide an answer. For now, there is drama enough in the strange, other-worldly composition of this photograph, which some researchers find reminiscent of Japanese Noh theater--another interest of Yeats. The "ectoplasm" seen emerging from Mrs. Henderson's midsection is almost less remarkable than the seemingly disembodied hands of the "controls," maintaining contact with the medium in an effort to prevent fraud.

Jeff's Soliloquy

The American Museum of Photography:

History painting already had a long and distinguished career when photography finally came along in 1839. While on-the-spot photojournalism would not arrive until faster materials and cameras became available in the 20th century, manipulated photographs sometimes masqueraded as documentary pictures.

Here, the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, is shown staring down the bayonetted barrel of a Union rifle as he is captured at the end of the Civil War. While accounts of his apprehension vary, Davis was apparently wearing his wife's overcoat and a shawl in an effort to escape detection. (The bonnet tied with ribbons and the makeshift skirt are among the embellishments added by "fevered reporters" eager to ridicule Davis as a cowardly cross-dresser, making this an early example of propaganda photography.) When soldiers caught a glimpse of Davis's riding boot, they realized that he was no lady.

In this concocted image, only the face and perhaps the boot have photographic origins; the rest is the handiwork of an artist.

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Francis Hacker (Rhode Island): Jeff's Soliloquy. Albumen carte de visite photocollage, 1865.