Ever looked at the back of a beehive-stamped coin or a dusty history book and seen that stern, heavily bearded man staring back? That’s the classic Brigham Young. For most of us, "photos of Brigham Young" conjures up a specific image: the Lion of the Lord, a stoic patriarch with a chin curtain beard that looks like it could weather a Great Basin winter without a flinch.
But honestly, that’s just one version of him.
If you actually start digging through the archives at BYU or the Church History Library, you find a guy who was way more into his "look" than you’d expect. He was the most photographed man in the Utah Territory, and he knew exactly what a camera could do for his brand. From the clean-shaven young buck in Nauvoo to the gilded daguerreotypes of a territorial governor, the visual record of Brigham Young is basically a 19th-century masterclass in public relations.
The Earliest Photos of Brigham Young and the Nauvoo Mystery
Photography was brand new when the Saints were in Nauvoo. We’re talking about the mid-1840s—the Wild West of tech. Most people assume the earliest photos of Brigham Young would show him as he was when he took the reins after Joseph Smith.
Kinda.
There is one specific image that historians freak out over. It’s a 1846 daguerreotype, likely taken by Lucian Foster. In it, Brigham is standing in a doorway, looking surprisingly slim. He’s holding a cane and wearing a top hat. He looks less like a Moses-figure and more like a sharp-dressed businessman ready to close a deal.
He’s also totally clean-shaven.
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Think about that for a second. The man whose name is now synonymous with a university that literally bans beards (with some exceptions) didn't even grow his own famous whiskers until he was well into his 50s. If you only saw this 1846 shot, you might not even recognize him.
Marsena Cannon and the Silver Plate Era
Once the pioneers hit the Salt Lake Valley, photography became a bit more stable, thanks largely to a guy named Marsena Cannon. He arrived in 1850 and started capturing the leadership in what were called daguerreotypes—images on silver-coated copper plates.
These things were mirror-like. You had to hold them at just the right angle to even see the person.
In the early 1850s, Cannon took a series of portraits where Brigham is starting to evolve. You’ve got the 1850 "Masonic Pin" photo. He’s wearing a dark vest, looking intensely at the lens. This is where we see the beginning of the "Prophet" aesthetic.
One cool detail historians love? In a famous daguerreotype from about 1853, Brigham’s hair is parted on the "wrong" side. Because daguerreotypes were literal mirrors of reality, the image was reversed. If you see a photo of Brigham from this era where his hair parts on his left, you’re actually looking at a mirror image.
The Great Beard Debate: Family vs. Fame
Okay, let’s talk about the beard. It’s the elephant in the room.
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Most famous photos of Brigham Young show the long, flowing "patriarchal" beard. This was the look he rocked in the 1860s and 70s, captured brilliantly by photographers like Charles Roscoe Savage. Savage was the guy who took the "official" portraits that were turned into postcards and sold to tourists.
But here’s the kicker: his family kinda hated those photos.
Ardis Parshall, a researcher who runs the history blog Keepapitchinin, found some fascinating notes from Brigham’s descendants. Apparently, in 1932, his children and grandchildren complained that the long-bearded photos were "caricatures." They claimed he usually kept his beard much shorter, neater, and more "distinguished."
One of his daughters, Clarissa Young Spencer, remembered having to tie a bib over his beard during breakfast to keep the crumbs out.
"The family used to eat an early breakfast, but I always waited until ten o’clock when Father had his... it was my duty to tie a bib over it in order to protect it from stray crumbs."
So, while the world saw a rugged, untamed frontiersman, his family saw a guy who needed a napkin. The "long beard" look was basically the 1870s version of a filtered Instagram post—it emphasized his role as a prophet and a colonizer, even if it wasn't how he looked on a random Tuesday.
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Finding the "Missing" Portraits
It’s not just about the photos. Sometimes the photos lead us to lost art.
In 1865, a famous artist named Enoch Wood Perry, Jr. came to Salt Lake. He was a big deal—he’d studied in Paris with the same guys who taught Manet. He painted nineteen portraits of Church leaders, including a stunning one of Brigham.
For nearly a century, four of these paintings (including Brigham’s and his wife Mary Ann Angell’s) went missing. They were eventually rediscovered by Anthony Christensen of Anthony's Fine Art. Seeing the oil painting next to the Savage photos is wild. The painting softens him. It gives him a warmth that the black-and-white, high-contrast photos of the era just couldn't capture.
Why These Images Actually Matter Today
You might wonder why we’re still obsessing over a few dozen old pictures.
It’s about the narrative. For years, the "beard ban" at BYU has been a point of irony for students. They look at the photos of Brigham Young and see a guy who would be sent to the testing center to shave. But understanding the chronology helps.
- Identity Shifting: Brigham used photography to transition from a "Young" leader in Nauvoo to the "Governor" of Utah, and finally to the "Prophet" of the late 19th century.
- Cultural Trends: He didn't grow the beard because it was a "religious rule." He grew it because beards became fashionable in the mid-1850s (think Abraham Lincoln).
- Humanity: Seeing the "bloody" or "smeared" photos—like the one found in 2002 where a wife's face is scratched out—reminds us that these weren't just icons. They were people dealing with complicated family dynamics and fragile technology.
If you want to see these for yourself, don't just settle for a Google Image search. The BYU ScholarsArchive has high-resolution scans of the 1850s daguerreotypes that are so clear you can see the texture of his silk vest. The Church History Library also has the "PH 1700" collection, which is basically the motherlode of early Utah portraiture.
Next time you see a photo of the "Bearded Prophet," remember the guy in the top hat from 1846. He was a man of many faces, most of which were carefully curated for the lens.
To get the most out of your own research into pioneer history, start by comparing the Marsena Cannon daguerreotypes (pre-1860) with the C.R. Savage cabinet cards (post-1860). You'll see the exact moment the "American Moses" persona was born through the growth of a beard and the narrowing of a gaze.