The Earliest Photographs of the United States of America (1842-1850)
Photography was introduced to the world in
1839 in France by
Louis Daguerre and quickly spread throughout
Europe, the
United States, and the rest of the world.
Surviving photographs taken of human subjects outside over the next decade in the United States in the 1840's are some of the most scarce in existence. This video attempts to assemble the largest collection of such photos taken between 1842 and the early 1850's.These are all either daguerreotypes or calotype salted paper prints.
Chestnut and 3rd
Streets,
Philadelphia, by
George Read, 1842:
http://www.geh.org/fm/mismis/htmlsrc26/m196902000041_ful
.html#topofimage
Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, DC, possibly by
Mathew Brady, 1843.
Chestnut Street shops, Philadelphia, by
William G.
Mason, 1843: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664454/
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, by William G. Mason, 1843: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664455/
Girard Bank, Nativist Riots, Philadelphia, by
W. & F. Langenheim,
1844: http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage
.php?imgId=1-2-1F08
Ulysses S. Grant and
Alexander Hays,
Camp Salubrity,
Louisiana, 1845: http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/lee-and-grant/war
Grist mill, c. 1845: http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=56176
"
Plymouth and
Kingston Express Wagon,"
Massachusetts, c. 1846.
Mexican-American War parade,
Dayton, Ohio, c. 1846.
Mexican-American War parade,
Exeter New Hampshire, c. 1846.
Mexican American War funeral,
Wilmington, North Carolina, c.
1848: http://susan747.wordpress.com/
2010/07/26/wilmingtons-first-photograph/
Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, c. 1846: http://www.librarycompany.org/catchingashadow/section3/index
.htm
Arch and 8th Streets, Philadelphia, 1847: http://libwww.freelibrary.org/diglib/SearchItem
.cfm?searchKey=5087229341&ItemID;=pdcl00102
Tom Thumb's visit,
St. Louis, by
Thomas Easterly, 1848: http://collections.mohistory.org/resourceMgr/141875.html
California pioneers in
Columbus, Ohio, 1849: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbustapeck/7161807969/
Union Fire Company firefighters, St. Louis, by Thomas Easterly, 1848: http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/142454.html
Cincinnati riverfront view, by
Charles Fontayne and
William Porter, 1848: http://1848.cincinnatilibrary.org/showplate.php?id=1
Montgomery County Courthouse, Dayton, Ohio, 1848.
Confectionery shop,
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1849: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbustapeck/7897319706/
California pioneers in Columbus, Ohio, 1849: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbustapeck/7161807969/
Carysfort Reef Florida lighthouse in Philadelphia, by
Frederick and William Langenheim 1849: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/photographs/frederick-and-william-langenheim-and-cast-iron-5236731-details
.aspx
Canal locks under construction, c. 1849: http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=56172
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=56189
African American man and steer, c. 1850: http://www.germainewilliams.com/
2013/09/07/exciting-daguerreotype-at-sothebys-in-october/
Man on horse-drawn buggy with dog, c. 1849.
American Hotel fire aftermath,
Buffalo, New York, 1850.
Cazenovia
Fugitive Slave Law Convention,
Cazenovia, New York, by
Ezra Greenleaf Weld, 1850: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/cazenovia_celebrates_its_role.html
A busy
Montgomery Street,
San Francisco, by
Frederick Coombs, 1850.
General Tom Thumb and his miniature carriage. (
Correction: Tom Thumb is not in the photograph and it was actually taken sometime in the 1850's as it is an ambrotype.)
A group of men posing on a sidewalk, c. 1850.
Ohio Star newspaper buggy,
Ravenna, Ohio, c. 1850: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbustapeck/7103509997/in/set-72157629488817352
Stagecoach service between
Rome and
Hamilton, New York, c. 1850.
Steam locomotive Tioga, Philadelphia and
Columbia Railroad, c. 1850: http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-5B4
Man with an elephant, by Thomas Easterly, c. 1850: http://artblart.com/tag/daguerreotypists/
Horse-drawn sleigh, c. 1850
.
Men posing with a prized bull, c. 1850: http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=56214
College students portrait,
Bethany College,
West Virginia, c. 1850: http://www.finedags.com/archives/salon_archive/D13-114.htm
School group portrait, c. 1850.
Peddler's wagon, c. 1850.
A family in
Cincinnati, by Charles Fontayne and William Porter, c. 1850.
People on a bridge over the
Seneca River,
Seneca Falls, New York c. 1850: http://americanart.si.edu/helios/americanphotographs/obuasfups.html
Four men and a dog, c. 1850.
Union Hotel under construction, San Francisco, c. 1850: http://www.metmuseum.org/
Collections/search-the-collections/269268
Independence Square entrance, Philadelphia, c. 1850:
Library of Congress
Customs House, Philadelphia, by Frederick Langenheim, c. 1850:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99401990/