In its edition of 17 September 1859, the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin introduced Emperor Norton’s original Proclamation with a brief paragraph noting that the Emperor had presented himself in the paper’s editorial office that morning as “a well-dressed and serious-looking man.”

But, the Emperor that appeared at the Bulletin in September 1859 was the not the Emperor of the late-reign photographs. Lining up the 16 extant photographs of Emperor Norton chronologically, one can see that the Emperor “built up” the apparel and accoutrements of his imperial uniform over a period of many years. For example, it’s not until the mid 1870s that the Emperor’s famous plumed beaver hat begins to appear in photos of him.

Notice something else: Emperor Norton adds epaulettes to his uniform relatively early — and, once the Emperor adds the epaulettes, they remain a standard feature shown in every subsequent photograph of him.

Here are the two earliest photos of the Emperor with epaulettes. The photos are from 1864 — both, taken by the Bradley & Rulofson studio, apparently during the same sitting.

There is one photograph of Emperor Norton that shows him without epaulettes. Here it is:

The San Francisco Public Library has a copy of this photo, which it leaves undated.

The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley — the source of the image above — dates the photo as being from 1876. This seems wildly erroneous, as the Emperor here looks nothing like the better-fed Emperor in several other photos from the mid to late 1870s.

Norton’s biographer, William Drury, included the photograph in his 1986 book, captioning the photo as being taken “[i]n his early days as Emperor.” This is closer.

The OpenSFHistory archive includes a scan of the damaged negative of the photograph that is in the Martin Behrman Negative Collection — which is part of the Park Archives of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The negative is dated “circa 1860” — which is closer still.

Martin Behrman (1862–1945) was an amateur photographer and a noted copyist of early California photographs. Unclear is whether Behrman himself or, rather, a later GGNRA archivist assigned the date to the negative. Also unclear: Was “circa 1860” assigned for a particular reason — or, from the perspective of the specific 8-month window I’ll argue for shortly, was it just a “lucky guess”?

For several years now, we at The Emperor Norton Trust have identified this as the earliest photograph of Emperor Norton, because it’s the only photo showing him without epaulettes.

Based on the 1864 date of the earliest “epauletted” photos of the Emperor, we’ve dated this photograph as “early 1860s” — by which we’ve meant c.1860–63.

Assuming that the photograph was taken sometime before the Emperor started wearing epaulettes, then determining exactly when the Emperor started becoming “gold-shouldered” could help to narrow the time frame for the photo.

Based on our research, we now are dating this photograph “c.1859–60.”

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The initial evidence to support this date comes from art.

Here’s a detail from a late 1863 engraving, by T. Grob, of a public military drill that Emperor Norton attended in October 1863. Emperor Norton is shown with epaulettes. That’s Freddy Coombs a.k.a. George Washington II on the right.

Here’s an earlier cartoon, by Edward Jump (1832–1883), dated February 1863.

And another Jump cartoon, dated c.1861–63 — so, potentially earlier than 1863.

What’s important to note about the Edward Jump cartoons: Jump was working as a caricaturist. So, he would have been looking to highlight those features of Emperor Norton and his dress that already were so well known among the San Francisco audience for his cartoons that the audience would know immediately that it was the Emperor who was being lampooned.

Put another way: Jump would have put epaulettes on Emperor Norton’s shoulders in early 1863 only because the Emperor already had been wearing them for quite some time.

For how long had Emperor Norton been wearing epaulettes?

Here’s an excerpt from a 26 May 1860 article in the Daily Alta California newspaper that painted a picture of the Montgomery Street promenade the evening before:

Excerpt from “Blue Skies Again,” in City Items, Daily Alta California, 26 May 1860, p. 1, col. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection — **Excerpt from “Blue Skies Again,” in City Items, *Daily Alta California*, 26 May 1860**, p. 1, col. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

…the Emperor Norton again donned his epaulettes and recommenced strutting up and down the sidewalk….

We’re told here that, on 25 May 1860, Emperor Norton “again donned his epaulettes” and that he “recommenced strutting up and down the sidewalk.”

In other words: (1) Strutting up and down the sidewalk was something that the Emperor had done on previous days. And, (2), that evening in late May 1860 was not the first time that the Emperor had “donned his epaulettes.”

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All of this suggests that Emperor Norton was wearing epaulettes by sometime in May 1860, at the latest — and that any formal photograph showing him without epaulettes was taken before that, specifically: between the Emperor’s self-declaration on 17 September 1859 and 25 May 1860.

Now, if we can just find out who the photographer was.

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The Emperor Norton Trust

Dating the Earliest Extant Photograph of Emperor Norton

…the Emperor Norton again donned his epaulettes and recommenced strutting up and down the sidewalk….