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Wedgewood and Davy
The two men produced the article with the earliest record of photography in England. Their use of Silver Nitrate is still used in photography today. -
Louisiana Purchase
The US pays France (Napolean) $15 million to buy the chunk of land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. -
Lewis and Clark
Nearly one year after the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark set off westward to discover and document the unknown parts of the country. -
Niepce- Earliest Surviving Photograph
Joseph Niepce created what we recognize as the earliest surviving photograph. The issue with other photographs was that when they were exposed to light they continued to darken, Niepce found a way around this and created a direct positive image. -
Construction of the fist public railroad system
This was the development of the first public railroad system that ran from Ohio to Baltimore. This changed the face of America and previously wild landscapes and launched us into the Industrial Revolution. -
Combine Harvester
The invention of the combine harvester is announced. This large piece of farm machinery is intended to cut workloads down by 1/3. The combination invention drastically increased productivity for both small and large-scale operations. -
Henry Fox-Talbot
The second of two men known for the invention of photography. Fox-Talbot produced the 'Latticed Window' and referred to his work as Calotypes. Fox-Talbot did not announce his invention until 1839, making Daguerre technically the first man to announce the invention to the world. -
Daguerre and the Daguerreotype
One of the two men responsible for inventing photography as we know it. Producing the first photograph known to have a human in it, Daguerre dubbed his method of photo taking, the Daguerreotype. -
Portraiture Uses - Documentary
Hill and Adamson began the first uses of social documentation through the use of Calotypes. They took to small villages and communities and documented aspects of women and men working, community interaction and details not commonly captured in a studio. -
Portraiture Uses - Studio
Once more people learned how to create Daguerreotypes and Calotypes, many different uses for photography began to arise. One of which being traditional portraits of individuals, families, documentation of events, etc. These portraits appeared very stiff and photographers began adding backdrops, themes and other aspects to expand from common portraits. -
Portraiture Uses - Medicine
Ehtnologists and Anthropologists began photographing different sexes, races and religions in order to document differences and try to show inequality. Many slaves were photographed in degrading ways without any privacy to be used in scientific research without any permissions. -
Early War Photography - Crimean War
The Crimean War is known the be the first war that was photographed. There are many photographs out of this war, many of the great ones were captured by Roger Fenton, such as "The Valley of the Shadow of the Valley of Death". There were very few photographs that showed bodies, battles or death and many photographers tried to stick to more still frames and less gruesome details. -
Photography as Art - Tableaux Vivant
The Tableaux Vivants (living pictures) became very popular for advanced photographers to attempt to prove that photographs did not have to be exact representations of a scene or copies, but could be art and descriptive or imaginative. These photographers would create raw photos that were not stiff and staged or use many different prints to manipulate and combine them to make a seamless photograph that told a story. -
Stereoscopic Images and the Civil War
During the Civil War there were many photographers who would use stereoscopic methods to produce 3-D images. A stereoscopic camera would produce two identical images that would appear side-by-side, called a stereoview. You could then by a stereoscope, which were largely produced and very popular, and could view the images through the scope to see a 3-D photograph. -
Abraham Lincoln elected as President
Lincoln is elected President which starts controversy around slaves and ownership and eventually the Civil War. This ties into photographic history with the Civil War being a key point in the history of photography and ethnocentrism in early photography. -
Early War Photography - Civil War
The US Civil War was captured through many photographs, most of which by the wet-plate collodion process. Exposure time was roughly 2-3 seconds so action shots were still not great and most of the photos were taken in studios in soldiers hometowns. One of the most notable photographers of this war was Mathew Brady. -
Cameristas and the Civil War
Because so many photographs came out of this conflict, many were taken in soldiers hometown studios, but another large portion were taken by 'cameristas'. These were hundreds of people who would follow the armies around and capture as many pictures as they could, with some of the followers even being contracted by more famous photographers to do the "dirty work". -
Photography as Art - Nadar and Aerial Photos
French balloonist and photographer, Nadar, captured and sold many images of celebrities and prominent figures throughout France, but he took big leaps as he began capturing aerial images of Paris from his hot air balloon. He had to keep a complete dark room aboard to attempt to process and save any images, with few surviving the first few years of trials. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
This is the first federal law that is passed in order to protect the rights of African Americans. Passed by Congress and then vetoed by President Johnson, it was overridden by Congress and ultimately passed. -
The 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment of the US Constitution is ratified by the Secretary of State. This amendment allowed African Americans to vote and no longer allowed voters to be excluded due to race. -
The Edison Electric Company
This was the start of the Edison Electric Company and they began operation. -
Portraiture Uses - Law Enforcement
In the 1880s Bertillon realized that having a standardized measure and method for photographing inmates or those arrested could help in identification. Initially he thought a full body photograph would be better, eventually realizing that what we now know as a "mug shot" is more useful. -
Electric Fan
The invention of the first fan powered by an electric motor is invented by a New Orleans man. -
Photography as Art - Pictorialists
Pictorialists became known as those who did not want to create the perfect sharp and focused image. They wanted blurry lines and unfocused aspects to create a more expressive and surreal image that represented more of a painting. Pictorialists would scratch negatives or smear coatings on lenses to prevent perfection and add dimension. -
Motion Picture Camera
Work is begun for creating and ultimately inventing the first motion picture camera. This is all done in Thomas Edison's laboratory, as he is now leading businesses and inventions of this kind along with Alexander Graham Bell. -
Photography as Art - The Photo-Secession Movement
This movement was created by Stieglitz and was intended to hold exhibitions and promote American Photographers who created "Straight Photography" or photos that did not include aspects of pictorialism. This was an era where we saw people move away from pictorialsim and promote realism and straightforward images. This was a setback for all those who were trying to prove photography to be an expressive form of art.