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Wedgwood and Davy Publish Experiment Findings
Thomas Wedgwood and Humphry Davy publish their experiments the Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. They experimented with using light-sensitive chemicals, captured fixed silhouette images on paper and other materials by immersion in a silver nitrate solution, and captured images inside a camera obscura (dark room). -
Louisiana Purchase
The United States purchases Louisiana from France -
Bourbon Restoration (1814 - 1830)
A reshuffling of French rulers as Napoleon is forced to abdicate (twice) and Bourbon monarchs were restored to the throne with lessening power. -
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
Begins to experiment with a new form of lithography and develops a new process of "drawing with the sun" and calls it heliography -
The First Photograph
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce creates the worlds first surviving permanent photograph from a camera. It is a photo of a view from an upstairs window from his estate -
Joseph Niépce Meets Louis Daguerre
Joseph Niépce is introduced to Louis Daguerre by Charles Chevalier, a Parisian optics instrument maker. They begin a collaborative relationship. -
Niépce and Daguerre Sign Contract
Joseph Niépce and Daguerre work together on improving the photographic process. Both sign a contract on December 14, 1829 and work together until Joseph Niépce's sudden death in 1833 -
William Henry Fox Talbot Photogenic Drawings
Henry Fox Talbot, a British scientist, experiments with using light to make images. -
Joseph Niépce's Dies
Joseph Niépce's dies suddenly in 1833 and Daguerre's resumes his work. -
The Daguerreotype
After experimenting with Niépce's processes to develop latent prints and experimenting with a saline solution. Daguerre perfects and creates the daguerrotype . -
Talbot Patents the Calotype
Henry Fox Talbot patents the photographic process called the calotype. It is the photographic process e that produced a negative which allowed copies to be made. The calotype process is most similar to the process used in modern photography. -
Talbot Authors The Pencil of Nature
The book was published in six sections between 1844 and 1846 and contained 24 calotype images -
First Message by Telegraph Sent
“What hath God Wrought” was the first message sent by telegraph on May 24, 1844. Invented by Samuel Morse with help of Alfred Vail. -
Mathew Brady Opens Studio
Mathew Brady opens studio in New York in 1844, several years before The Civil War. -
Mexican-American War (1846-148)
A war between the U.S. and Mexico that led to the annexation of Texas. -
Augustus Washington Opens Studio
Augustus Washington was a free person of African and South-Asian descent, opens a daguerrean studio in Hartford, CT in 1846. -
Calotype Club in London
Founded in 1847, one of the earliest photography clubs established. -
First War Photograph Taken - Mexican-American War
The first photograph taken during a time of war was a daguerreotype taken by an unknown photograph in 1847. The photo is titled: General Wool and Staff, Calle Real, Saltillo, Mexico. -
Frederick Scott Archer Invents the Collodion Process
Frederick Scott Archer invents the Collodion Process, also known as the wet-plate process, which was a time-sensitive development process that used glass plates in stead of paper. -
First Hand-Powered Washing Machine Invented
James King patents the first drum hand-powered washing machine in 1851. Hamilton Smith patents the first rotary washing machine seven years later. -
Crimean War (1853 - 1856)
Crimean War erupts in Eastern Europe and gives birth to the first prominent war photographers: Roger Fenton, James Robertson, and Karl Baptist Von-Szatmari. -
Anna Atkins Uses Cyanotypes in Botany
Botanist, scientist, and illustrator, Anna Atkins was a friend of William Henry Fox Talbot, authors Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns in 1854. -
Valley of the Shadow of Death
Famed photo taken by Roger Fenton during the Crimea War. :
Crimea, Ukraine (Place Created); Date: April 23, 1855; Medium:
Salted paper print -
Gustave Le Gray Seascapes Series
Gustave Le Gray, famed portraitist, opens studio in France in 1855. He creates famous seascapes from 1856-8, and invents wax paper photographic process. -
Two Ways of Life Exhibited
Oscar Rejlander exhibits Two Ways of Life, a famous tableaux-vivant and example of combination printing that was 31 inches wide and made from 30 individual negatives. -
Guns: Spencer Repeating Carbine Patented
Spencer repeating carbine was patented in 1860 and could could fire 7 shots in 15 seconds. By 1863, it becomes the primary weapon used in Civil War. -
Mathew Brady Portrait of Lincoln
Mathew Brady takes famous portrait of Abraham Lincoln that may have helped him win the presidency. -
Civil War Begins
The war began when the Confederates attack Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. -
Dead of Antietam
Scottish-born photographer Alexander Gardner, who worked under Mathew Brady, takes famed Civil War photo in September 1862. -
Julia Margaret Cameron Receives First Camera
Julia Margaret Cameron, known from her soft focus romantic photographic style, receives her first camera in 1863, at 48 years old. -
Civil War Ends
The Civil War ends when Robert E. Lee surrenders tto Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. -
First Practical Typewriter Invented
Christopher Latham Sholes invents first typewriter that is practical and mass-produced. -
Henry Peach Robinson Publishes Book
Henry Peach Robinson publishes the Pictorial Effect on Photography in 1869 that serves as a handbook for the pictorialist aesthetic. -
Thomas Edison Invents the Light Bulb
Thomas Edison was not the first to invent artificial light, but is credited in creating the first practical incandescent light bulb -
George Eastman Invents Flexible Film Roll
George Eastman invents a dry, transparent, flexible photographic film roll. -
Eastman Patents First Kodak Camera
George Eastman patents the first Kodak Camera that uses his rolled film with 100 exposures -
Eiffel Tower Debuts at World's Fair
The 1889 World's Fair exhibits The Eiffel Tower in Paris France -
Peter Henry Emerson Publishes Naturalistic Photography
Peter Henry Emerson, merged art and science and pioneered Naturalistic Photography. His first major work was Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads in 1886. -
Jacques Henri Lartigue Takes First Photo
Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) takes his first photo at age 6 -
Lumière Brothers Patent Autochrome
Louis and Auguste Lumière invent autochrome using potato starch and color filters. -
Alfred Stieglitz Opens Studio
Straight photography proponent and modern photography pioneer opens first studio: Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York.
