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America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/daghome.html

Provider: Library of Congress


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America’s First Look into the Camera consists of more than 650 photographs dating from 1839 to 1864. The daguerreotype marked a milestone in photographic history as portraits became popular among political figures, celebrities, and the growing middle class.

Portrait daguerreotypes produced by the Mathew Brady studio make up the major portion of the collection. Portrait sitters represented in the collection include political figures, such as President James K. Polk and Thomas Hart Benton; artists, including Thomas Cole, George Peter Alexander Healy, and Henry Inman; and journalists, Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond, and James Gordon Bennett. Many of the sitters are unidentified.

The collection also includes early architectural views by John Plumbe, several Philadelphia street scenes, early portraits by pioneering daguerreotypist Robert Cornelius, and copies of painted portraits.

Also included is a Timeline of the Daguerreian Era, the process of daguerreotype photography, a glossary of terms, and a special presentation - “Mirror Images: Daguerreotypes at the Library of Congress.”