*** United States photographic industry








United States Photographic Industry: Photographic Types

American Daguerreotype
Figure 1.--Commercial photography began with the Daguerreotype developed in France (1839). It quickly crossed the Atlantic to America where it was a sensation. Very quickly in an era that America was not yet an industrial giant or a country with a huge population, Daguerreotype studios sprang up everywhere. The result is that today there are far more Amerucan Dags than European Dags. Most American Dags were cased portraits. This is a good example. Ahd like most Dags, they are hard to date. We would guess that ghis portrait was taken in the early 1850s, but destinguishing 1840s and 50s Dags is very difficult. And to add to the confusion there are also sonme Dags from the early-60s. The boy wears a colar buttoning jacket with large numbers of buttons, and often a white collar. Notice that the checked pants do not match the jacket.

Photography began with the work of researchers in Europe, pimrily France and Britain. The European developments quickly crossed the Atlantic. The first such proces was the Dagurreotype (1840s). The industry prospered in the rapidly growing American economy where copyright restrictions were earlier than in Europe. New less expensive processes, the Ambro-type ad tintyoe, appeared which reduced the cost opf a photofraphic portrait (1850s). Dags ad Ambros were made in greater numbers than painted portraits, but the numbers were still limited. It was the albumen process, first with the CDV and later the cabinet card that brought photography to the masses (1860s). A studio portrait could be made inexpensively and copies could be made to send to families and friends. The cabinet card rapidly became popular with clients and came to dominate the American industry, unlike Europe where the CDV remined popular for some time. Major changes in photography occurred after the turn-of-the 20th century (1900s). Kodak introduced the easy to use Brownie camera and the resulting family snapshot took photography out of the studio. We also begin to see other formats like postcards. Most postcard-back prints were several nitrate ptints. In addfution silver nitrate prints replced albumen prints. The albumen priocess was still used in the new century, especially for cabinet cards, but it was very rapidly replaced with the silver nitate process which would dominate photography until color printing became common (1970s).

Daguerrotype

America in the 1840s and 50s was still a European backwater. America was growing, but still very rural compared to Europe. And America was not as affluent as European countries like Britain and France. Thus we assumed that photographic studios producung Daguerreotypes must have been more common in Europe than America. We would have though many more Daguerreotypes made in Europe than America. That said, we do note that the photographic business grew very rapidly in America. One source reports that there were 70 studios in New York city alone. How that compares to other large cities around the world, we are not sure, but it seems to have been many more than in Paris. One easily accessible indicator of popularity is the internet. Most of the auguerrotypes we see advertized on eBay are American. Very rarely do we see European dags. For some reason which we do not understand, cased images in general seem less common in Europe than in America. What appears to have occurred is thsat Daguerre was unable to enforce his patent in America. Once men like Samuel Morse brought the technology of Dagerre's process to America, it rapidly sread without any legal contraints. Thus we have a relstively large number of Daguerreotypes made in America during the 1840s. We think there may have been other factors. Perhaps there was a more entreprenural spirit in America. There may have been fewer governmental and artistic constraints. While America may not have been as rich as Europe, we suspect that wealth was more evemn distributed and that quite a number of Americans could afford the cost of a Daguerreotype portrait. The Daguerreotype fter all was essentislly the democratization of portaiture. Only a relatively small number of people could afford a painted portrait. A far wider slice od society could aford a Daguerreotyope portrait, especisally a small-sized Dag. And the standard American Daguerreotype was a small cased image.

Salt Prints

The salt print was developed atc about the same time as the Daguerreotype, but was not a commercial success. It was the most important paper-based photographic process for producing actual photographic prints (positives) from negatives (1839-60). It was suplanted by thw albumen process (1860s) begining with the CDV. The salted paper technique was invented English scientist and inventor Henry Fox Talbot (mid-1830s). He developed what he referred to as 'sensitive paper' which could produce 'photogenic drawing'. The process involved dabbing a sheet of writing paper with a weak solution of table salt (sodium chloride). He then blotted and dryed it. The next step was in a dark room, brushing one side of the paper with a strong solution of silver nitrate. This left a surface coating of light-sensitive silver chloride. Talbot's 'sensitive paper' paper darkened where it was exposed to light. After a sufficient exposure, the sheet was stabilized by applying a solution of table salt--this time a stron sollution, changing the chemical balance and making the paper only slightly sensitive to further exposure. Talbot than found that a solution of sodium thiosulfate ('hypo') woild make the exposed print light-fast. Multiple pruints could be made from a negative. The problem was speed. Longv exposure times were needed. It was suitable for buildigs and geogroicl features thst didn't move. but not for people. But thec real money (meaning adootion by photiograohers) was in studio photography creating portraits. Talbot improved the proces, but the albumen process was faster and produced a higher quality image.

Hillotypes

The Hillotype was a Daguerreotype, an American version that captured color. From a very early point, color photography was the holy grail of photography. Consumers wanted color prints way before they even existed. As a result. early photographers tinkerd with the chenmistry almost from the start. This at first meant work on Daguerreotype. A Reverend Hill in America claimed to have achieved colored images (about 1850). He refused to provide details on his complicated process because the Parent Office rejected his parent application. Acusations of fraud followed and he was largely descredited. He abandoned photography. Examinations of surviving Hillotypes show that he actually achieved some muted colors, although he enhanced some of his images with dyes. Of course Hilloptypes were a type of Daguerreotype so actual prints were not possible.

Ambrotypes

Research developments from Europe continued to dominatephotogrphy. Frederick Scott Archer in Britain invented the wet plate collodion process (early-1850s). Amrotypists used the plate image as a positive, instead of a negative. James Ambrose Cutting of Boston was one of the first American Ambrotypists. Cutting filed for several rklated patents (1854). His first namne is probbly the origin of the term Ambrotype which is the accepted American term for the process. As with Dags, the number of available American Ambros is much larger than is the case in Europe. This appears to reflect the growingprosperity of the United States combined with the weakness of patent law. And as with Dags, most were done as cased images which was less common in Europe. Most American Ambrotypes thus date from mid-decade (1855). The new process rapidly grew in popularity. This was about the same time that the tin-type appeared. They had one big advantage over Daguerreotypes, they were much less expensive which of course ffected the numbers made. They eliinated the need or apolished metal plae. Instead a simple inexpenive piece of glass was used. The Ambrotype was a collodion image fixed to the glass plate. When held up to a light source, it looked like a negative. To create a positive aeffect, the back of the plate could be painted black or set in black background. Both Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes had the same disadvantage, they were unique objects. There was no negative. Thus copies could not be made to send to families and friends. For the most part, like Dags we often do not know who the photgrapher was. Ambros like Dags were rarely dates, but as they were made over a relatively narrow time frame, we know about when the images were made. Nost Aerican Ambros were made about 1855-63. After 1863 Anbrios begin to became rare as the CDV became the standard photograpic format. One useful utility of the Ambroptype is helping the date Dags which were made over auch longer time frame. If we do not see see fashions in Ambros that we do see in Dags, we can assume that the Dag dates to the 1840s or early-50s.

Tin-types

Tintypes also called ferrotypes in Europe involve a wet-plate process. This means that the photographic emulsion is contained in a liquid collodion. The wet-plate process was invented in Britain by Frederick Scott Archer, a silversmith's apprentice who became a sculptor. He used calotype photographs to capture his subjects, but was disatisfied with the results. He developed the tintype process (1848) and published details (1851). This was the first low-cost process and thus helped to make portraits availble to the general public. He subsequently worked on Ambrotypes with Peter Fry. James Ambrose Cutting introduced the Ambrotype to the United States (1854). It is from Cutting's middle name that the term Ambrotype was derived. This was quickly followed by the tin-type. Actually Frenchman Adolphe Alexander Martin seems to have first developed the tintype (1852). It was at first called the Melainotype process. "Melaino" means dark or black. This term was used because the iron plate was first painted with a black Japan varnish before being coated with collodian. Profesor Hamilton L. Smith, a chemistry professor at Kenyon College in Ohio, developed the tintype process in America. He patented the process (1856). Thus we begin to first see anerican tintype in the mid-1850s. Smith then sold the patent rights to Peter Neff Jr., one of his students. Neff despite the patent encountered competition. Victor Griswold, anothr student at Kenyon College was also interested in photoigraphy. He opened a company in Lancaster, Ohio. Griswold used a very similsar process. The primary difference was a thinner metal plate. He patented his process udsing the term tintype. The British adopted a similar term--ferrotype. "Ferro" of course means iron. Griswold's process and thinner plates eventually won out. In Europe ferroplate became more common. The tintype was an almost instant process. It had several advantages, chief among them was the low cost. The use of an iron plate instead of glass greatly reduced the cost of the photograph. It was much cheaper than a Daguerreotype and even cheaper than an Ambrotype. It was also virtually instantaneous. This made it ideal for low-cost photographers such as small-scale local and itinerant street photographers as well as photographers setting up on a temporary basis such as at county and state fairs.

Albumen Process

Photography in the 19th century was dominated by the albumen process. Albumen prints were developed in France during the 1850s. They were not initially very popular, but suddently after portraits of Emperor Napolon III were made available, card mania began in France and quickly crossed the Atlantic. The first albumen prints were CDV. There may have been American CDVs in the very late-1850s, but if so they are very rare. We see CDVs appearing bin lrge numbers in the early-60s. They quickly reolaces Dags and Ambros. This was followed by the cabinet card which also used albumen prints (1866). Unlike Europe the cabknet card rapidly relaced CDVs. The CDV did not disappear, but American consumers clearly preferred the larger cabinet card. Cabinet cards were fairly standard in size and formt until the turn-of-the 20th century. Then we begin to see many different sizes and formats. Actually the first albumen prints to achieve popularity was the stereo cards which becme opular in the 1850s. Other formats were used, but the over-wealming number of stereo photography was done with albumen image cards.

Film and Silver Nitrate Photography

Major changes in photography began (late-19th century). Photography was a new and very popular industry. The public was fascinated by it there was a great demand for innovation. No where was it more populr than in America and a huge proprtion of 19th century images come from America, although the early technical advances were also all made in Europe. This began to change as the weight of innovation began to be affected by the huge and growing American market. This of course occurred at the same time that American industrial expansion began to surpass that of Europe and large numbers of Europeans began emmigrating to America in search of both farm land and decent paying industral jobs in the growing cities. It was a new American company, Eastman Kodak, that began the next round of advances in photography (late-19th century). Just as America had led the democratic political and economic prcess in the 19th century, Kodak began the process of democratizing photography. The Kodak camera put an image making tool in the hands of an ordinary person for the first time (1888). Photography until this time was done in studios or by dedicated photographers like Nathew Brady who rquired a horsedrawn wagon for all the equipment and chemicals required. This was far beyond the capability of the average indvidual, although a few dedicated, well-to-do amateurs did dabble. Kodak made photography possible for the average person by offering the service of handling the developing and printing. This had reqquired a number of importnt technicl developments. The most important was the development of reliable photographic film. The first film used dried gelatin as a base. This early film was fragile and thus was not a immediae commercial success. Finally a nitrate based, plastic roll film was developed. This was a vast improvement, but had a tendency to curl. Kodak was at the hed of these technical developments. And came out with an improved camera--the Browine (1900). It was not only improved, but cheaper than its earlier cameras. This essentially opened the floodgates of amateur, family photograhy. The easy to use Brownie camera and the resulting family snapshot took photography out of the studio. You simply snapped your photographs and shipped the camera off to Kodak. Very quickly you got your snap shots back in the mail along with the camera freshly loaded with film. Anyonne could now take a photograph anywhere outdoors during the day. Virtually any aspect everyday family life couldbe captured on filmand at very low cost. Photography in the 19th century captured people in a studio all dressed up in their best clpthes. This did not end, but now we begin to get a much larger record of everyday family life and clothing. An improved non curling film appeared (1903). And than film appeared in sheet form and quickly replaced the glass plate. The turn of the centryalso brought the movies which had required the invention of film. The first movies were filmed on early nitrate film. This was a problem because the nitrate film was highly flammable. This is why we have lost so many early movies. Not only did it burn, but it gave off a poisonous gas. Safety film was finally devloped, it was a non flammable plastic based film (1939). It soon replaced sheet and roll nitrate film for still photographs and after World War II movie film as well. Film was not the only innovation. Another major development roughly beginning with the Kodak Brownie was more substantial photographic paper for the prints. This meant that practice of pasting them on cardboard mounts (CDVs and cabint cards) began to decline. Professional studio continued to produce cabinet cards for a while, but we soon begin to see paper frames that could be used as a kind of stand. Families began filling scrapbooks with the new snapshots. And even earlier, photographs apeared with post card mounts that could be mailed (1904). We also begin to see other formats like postcards. Along with this develoment, silver-nitrate began replacng abumen photographs. Most postcard-back and stufio primts were silver nitrate prints. In addition silver nitrate prints replaced albumen prints. The albumen process was still used in the new century, especially for cabinet cards, but it was very rapidly replaced with the silver nitrate process which would dominate American photography until color printing became common (1970s).

Chronology

Quite a number of processes and portrait types have been used in America. The popularity of these different tupes can be hellpful in dating the images. Almost all of the ohotographs made in America during the 1840s were Dags. The Daguerreotype was an instant success and studios rapidly appeared in major cities and evebtually towns. Everyone who couldafford it wanted a Dauguerrotype made, but they were expensive. Most were preserved in cases. Strangely we have found very few of these cased Dags in Europe. Portraits made in the early 1850s were Daguerrotypes. As many Dags arevnot dated, it is very difficult to differentiate between the Dags made in the 1840s and 50s. During the decade new photographic processes were developed. The ambrotype and tintype (ferrotype) were especially important. We see a variety of portrait types in the early 1860s. Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes were made in the earky 1860s. The 1860s was a particularly important decade, in essence the beginning of modern photography. Negative-based photography began in the 1860s. The first format was the CDV. It immediately proved very popular because they were easier to save and copies could be made. They were also cheaper and a clearer image than a Dag and the other formats. The decline in orice means that we have many more images from the 1860s than earlier decades. As a result, most of the images fromn the 60s are CDVs. Cabinent cards appeared in 1866. We note both CDVs and cabinent cards in the early 1870s, but cabinent cards grew in popularity throughout the decade. The cabinent card in the 1880s and 90s dominated American studio photography. We also begon to see some snapshots in the 90s. Major changes took place in photography during 1900. The major shift resulted from the Kodak Brownie which was released in 1900. The simple to opperate Brownie was an instant success. As a result, for the first time in the history of photography, we see large numbers of snapshots. This greatly increased the number of available images compared to earlier decades. It also changes the character and nature of the imges. We seen unposed images around the home and in other locations like parks rather than just stiff, foirmal studio portraits. There are also many studio portraits. The portraits, however, are quite different. The cabinent cards become much less common. We see portraits with large paper frames surronding sometimes small portraits.








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Created: 5:56 PM 8/2/2013
Last updated: 5:56 PM 8/2/2013