This photo of Phineas Gage is a compensating reversal of a daguerreotype discovered in 2009 by Jack and Beverly Wilgus. The daguerreotype showed Gage laterally (left-right) reversed so a reversal had to be applied to the daguerreotype in order to see Gage correctly as he appeared in real life. Wilgus and Wilgus (2009) provide an explanation of the photographic process involved in creating a daguerreotype. As Kean (2014) points out, this photo contradicts the conception of Gage as a “dirty, disheveled misfit” but rather shows that the post-accident Gage was a “proud, well-dressed, and disarmingly handsome” man.

Collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus