When gold was discovered in California in January 1848, photography in America was not quite ten years old. In that brief span the daguerreotype had grown from an appealing curiosity to become a universal artifact of American life, a mature art form, and an established profession.
   This selection of nine California daguerreotypes is from the collection of The Oakland Museum. In 1998, the Museum will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the gold discovery with a major exhibition of cased California images.