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Wedgewood and Davy
Wedgewood and Davy were the first people to think to use light-sensitive paper with a silver nitrate coat to fix an image to a paper. They also attempted to use the Camera Obscura. Wedgewood and Davy's experiments are published in the "Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain" -
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Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark set out on the mission to explore unknown territories, establish connections, and find a waterway from the US to the Pacific Ocean. This was the first expedition to cross the western part of the US. Along their journey, Lewis and Clark ran into Sacagewea and learned a lot from her. -
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Napoleonic Wars
This was a series of wars between Napoleonic France and their changing allies. The war was about power as France wanted control over Europe, and briefly, Napoleon Bonaparte was in control. Was a fluctuating array of European powers and their allies. Led to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 where the US bought Louisiana from France for $15 million. Napoleon was eventually abdicated and exiled to an island, though he was able to escape & reclaim Europe for a short time before he died shortly after. -
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War of 1812
The Wr of 1812 was fought between the United States and the United Kingdom and their respective allies. This was fought because of a series of economic sanctions taken against the US, specifically the trade restrictions. The war ended after a draw and eventual treaty signing, the Treaty of Ghent. -
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Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Margaret Cameron is perhaps the most photographer from the Victorian Era. She photographed many of the elite in that time and had a very unique style. She used a camera with a very short focal length giving a narrow focal point making the images less sharp. This unique style created a mysterious dreamy tone to the images and thus, her images have stood through time. -
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Roger Fenton
Roger Fenton is the most favorite war photographer from the Crimean War. His most famous photograph is "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" which portrays a valley with many cannonballs lying around, insinuating that a battle recently took place. Fenton actually had his staff move the cannonballs to look as if they just landed there and the battle just ended, bring some ethical questions up today. Another famous image is of a Cavalry Camp. In 1853, he also helped develop the Photographic Society. -
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Nadar
Nadar became a prominent photographer in the early 1850s after photographing many celebrities and artists in France. Nadar pioneered aerial photography by taking the first picture of Paris from a hot air balloon. Because he was using the wet-collodion process he had to carry an entire darkroom in his balloon with him. He also experimented with artificial light by using a carbon arc lamp to take the photo "The Sewers of Paris". -
Niépce
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce developed what is known as "sun writing". In 1822 Niépce began trying to figure out a way to use engraving plates and light to create images. After figuring out the engraving plate and transfer process, he made what is now known as a "Direct Positive". The image could not be reproduced because there was no negative to produce copies with. However, Niépce is credited with the world's first permanent photograph, "View from the Window at Gras". -
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Matthew Brady
Matthew Brady is perhaps the best known Civil War Photographer. Brady took images of mostly American celebrities, figures in law, government, business, society, and the arts before the Civil War broke out and won many awards. One of his most famous images is of Abraham Lincoln. During the war, Brady hired 'operators' to take images for him. These operators include Alexander Garnder and Timothy O'Sullivan. -
Invention of the Locomotive
While the steam engine was just invented, it needed something to power, the locomotive. In 1829 the locomotive appeared in the US and helped establish the country as we know it today. By the middle of the century, there were hundreds operating. This was such an important invention because it allowed for large amounts of heavy objects to be transported quickly and they could go far across the country. -
Latent Image
Using Niépce's materials, Daguerre created the latent image in 1835. This is an image that is registered on a silver surface of a plate but cannot yet be seen. He realized that a treatment of different fumes could make the image begin to appear. This led him to create the Daguerreotype. -
Daguerreotype
Daguerre created a box that would make the whole latent imaging process more concise. A copper sheet plated with silver to go into a box containing iodine fumes. This then attached to a camera obscura and exposed to light for the image to begin to appear. In 1837 Daguerre got the right to call this process his, however, it failed dramatically in selling. In 1839 the French Academy of Science stated that the process was original and would not change how drawing and painting as they knew it. -
Calotype
William Henry Fox Talbot created the Calotype. This involved using a latent image to later be developed after exposure. Talbot would use salt to sensitize paper in a process he called a salt print. He called this photogenic drawing, today they may be known as shadowgraphs or photograms. However, unlike the Daguerreotype, the calotype produced a negative. This negative would allow for many copies to be made of the same image. This became the basis for photography today. -
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions
Anna Atkins published her book "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions" in October 1843 and it is widely considered to be the first photographic book. Her illustrations were made using the cyanotype technique. This process was invented by Sir John Herschell and involves placing an object on sensitized paper creating a perfect one to one representation of the form. -
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The Pencil of Nature
Talbot published the book "The Pencil of Nature" including 6 sections from 1844 to 1846. This was one of the first books with actual photographs instead of engravings. The book contained 24 calotype images accompanied by text explaining the image. -
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Mexican-American War
Fought between the United States and Mexico, this war was fought in an attempt for America to fulfill their "manifest destiny" and westward expansion. The war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which Mexico ceded territories that have since become Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. -
Ethnology, Anthropology, and Medicine
Photography became used for medical purposes in the 1850s and in that time there were no rules about what you could photograph, concealing identities, and the purpose of the photographs. Identities were not hidden and these medical photographs were used in an attempt to justify racism and racial superiority. J.T. Zealy is credited with a couple of photos of a slave, Jack, and showing him in different angles and posed in certain ways in an attempt to prove a point. -
Collodion Process
This process invented by Frederick Scott Archer involves a dark room. A glass plate is immersed in silver nitrate, put in a light-tight container, and then put in the camera. Light will then be exposed for a couple of seconds and the plate is immediately taken to the darkroom where it is washed and coated with varnish for protection. This will create a glass plate negative that can then be put on paper for the final image to be mounted. -
Stereograph
The stereographic camera, invented by Charles Wheatstone, had twin lenses and it gave a 3D effect when looking at the images side by side in stereoview. Because these cameras allowed you to see in practically 3D they became very popular. They were used often by photographers during the Civil War. -
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Crimean War
Fought by Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia against Russia. This war was fought because of Russian pressure on Turkey threatening British interests in the Middle East and India. It was fought in the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea. Russia eventually left Sevastopol and began talks towards peace. The treaty of Paris was then signed on March 30, 1856. -
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American Civil War
The American Civil War began over the controversy of slavery between the North and the South. While the North was not for slavery, the South was, and these differences in addition to the government intervention and ability to put an end to slavery began the Civil War. After 50 major battles and many more small ones, the North won the war after the confederate army surrendered in 1865. The states that seceded from the union eventually returned. -
Abolition of Slavery
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States. As this was a huge controversy and difference between the North and the South, it caused a lot of mixed emotions across the country. The abolition was added as the 13th Amendment to our Constitution. -
The lightbulb
In 1879, Thomas Edison was finally able to make a long-lasting electric lightbulb. While the first ones only lasted 40 hours before burning out, by the following year they could last 1200 hours. Slowly, Edison's lightbulbs began showing up in cities though originally could only power a small portion of them. This invention definitely became beneficial to society as we know it. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the United States by France to commemorate the alliance of France and the US during the American revolution. In addition to honoring the perseverance and democracy of the US, it was to serve to honor the late Abraham Lincoln and his work. The statue has become an important part of American culture and identity. -
Kodak
The Eastman Dry Plate Company made the first Kodak camera and began producing them for use by mid-class customers. This camera had a fixed focus and 'American Film', with 100 exposures. When all the pictures had been taken, the camera would be sent back to the company and they would print the images, reload the film in the camera, and send it back to you. Their slogan was "You press the button - We do the rest". This revolutionized the way photography and cameras were idealized within society. -
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The Photo-Secession Movement
A movement created by Alfred Steiglitz fro American photographers in an attempt to hold exhibitions. As photography moved more towards form and away from atmosphere, Stieglitz felt that pictorialists (those who rejected the need for a sharply focused picture) were doing an injustice to photography. While Stieglitz started the Movement, it was made popular by young photographer Paul Strand. Strand had his work published in Camera Work in 1917 and was very much against pictorialism.