Historical Background On August 19, 1839, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre announced that he had invented the photographic pro-cess, the daguerreotype. News of the invention of pho-tography quickly spread, capturing the imagination and curiosity of many people all over the world. From its beginning, photography has played an important role in society. Photographers took their cameras to the battlefields, and finally brought the brutal reality of war directly into the homes of many who would otherwise never witness it. After the Civil War, “spirit photogra-phers” offered customers a chance to see their loved ones again in the form of a ghost or spirit in a photograph, a tradition that continues today as some people believe the camera can sometimes see what the human eye cannot. Photographs have also been extensively used for docu-mentary purposes and as propaganda, making a deep im-pact on the public. Photographic technology has changed over the years from glass plate negatives to film to digital format, but the rea-sons why people take pictures has not changed. Photogra-phers have always had a specific intent in mind when tak-ing images. Photographs should always be looked at while thinking about the historical context in which they were taken in, rather than to be used to only supplement text.

FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: Prints & Photographs Collection

Popular Photographic Print Processes

Invention & Photography (exhibit)

Does the camera ever lie? ADDITIONAL LINKS: 3-D Civil War Photos Presentation (presentation

created by the Civil War Preservation Trust & The Center for Civil War Photography, contains a link to request a free pair of 3-D glasses to view the presen-tation)

History of Photography Interactive Timeline

(presentation created by National Geographic)

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS: The Library of Congress offers numerous collections of photographs that cover all different time periods, plac-es, and events. Researching the history of photography can offer students a powerful insight into people, thoughts, and events of the past. The source set begins in 1840 and ends in 2008. It fo-cuses on the history of photography and contains pho-tographs, advertisements, and cartoons that illustrate the technological changes of photography over the years and explores how photography was used for dif-ferent purposes (i.e. documentary, “spirit photog-raphy,” motion studies, propaganda, and fine art). Have students choose a source from the set or one from the Library of Congress Web site. Have students research the historical context of the image by search-ing the Library of Congress Web site, the library, or the Internet. Who is the photographer or artist? Why is the image important in history? Why is the image important in the history of photography? What does the image tell you about the time period that other sources do not? Discuss the images as a class, and then put the images in chronological order.

Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU

PRIMARY SOURCE SET History of Photography

The artist's van [1855]

La daguerreotypomanie [1840]

[Occupational group portrait of four shoemakers, one full-length, standing, other three seated, holding shoes and shoe making equipment] [between 1840 and 1860]

Nadar / A. Humbert ; relief Marchan-deaux. [1863?]

Stull's patent stereoscope and self-angling cam-era, for producing statuary and life-like pictures [c. 1855]

Ft. Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., showing saliant assaulted by Long-streets forces, Novr. 29th 1863 The artist's van [1855]

[Watercolor business card for FBJ, by Wm. Mills Thompson, 1896]

Camera thought to be owned by renowned pho-tographer Frances Benjamin Johnston [2010]

"Spirit" photograph, supposedly taken during a seance, actually a double exposure or composite of superimposed cut-outs, showing woman, half-length, with head-and-shoulders portraits of men and women around her head [c.1901]

Vanishing race - Navaho (The North American Indian; v.01) [1904]

The zoopraxiscope--Horse galloping [c.1893] Also see the article, Eadweard Muybridge: Little Girl in Motion, for information on Muybridge’s motion studies with a camera.

Peter Rabbit Comic Strip [October 8, 1922]

Leo, 48 inches high, 8 years old. Picks up bobbins at 15 cents a day in Elk Cotton Mills. He said, "No, I don't help me sister or mother, just myself." Location: Fayetteville, Tennessee. [1910]

Tipy Dagestana [between 1905 and 1915] [Three-quarter left rear view of glider in flight at Kit-ty Hawk, North Carolina] [1911]

Make That Summer Trip With A Kodak [1911]

German Camera for Aircraft

This woman worker at the Vultee-Nashville is shown making final adjustments in the wheel well of an inner wing before the in-stallation of the landing gear, Nashville, Tenn. This [is] one of the numerous assem-bly operations in connection with the mass production of Vultee "Vengeance" dive bombers [1943]

Photographs, second annual exhibi-tion, Sioux City Camera Club [1936-1939]

Civil rights march on Washington, D.C. [1963]

Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi [2008]

Wounded servicemen arriving from Vietnam at Andrews Air Force Base [1968]

CITATIONS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is November 10, 2010. Maurisset, Théodore, artist. “La daguerreotypomanie.” Lithograph. 1840. From Library of Congress: Tissandier Col-lection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002722650/. Humbert, Albert, artist. “Nadar/A. Humbert; relief Marchandeaux.” Lithography, hand-colored. c.1863? From Library of Congress: Tissandier Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002722651/. “[Occupational group portrait of four shoemakers, one full-length, standing, other three seated, holding shoes and shoe making equipment.]” Photograph. c.1840-1860. From Library of Congress: Daguerreotypes. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664280/. Byram, Joseph H., engraver. “Stull’s patent stereoscope and self-angling camera, for producing statuary and life-like pictures.” Letterpress and wood engraving. c. 1855? From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002706839/. Fenton, Roger, photographer. “The artist’s van.” Photograph. 1855. From Library of Congress: Fenton Crimean War Photographs. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001697111/. Barnard, George N, photographer. “Ft. Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., showing saliant assaulted by Longstreets forces, Novr. 29th 1863.” Photograph. 1863 or 1864. From Library of Congress: Stereograph Cards. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005681112/. Thompson, Mills, artist. “[Watercolor business card for FBJ, by Wm. Mills Thompson, 1896].” Watercolor draw-ing. 1896. From Library of Congress: Johnston (Frances Benjamin) Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010645747/. Highsmith, Carol M., photographer. “Camera thought to be owned by renowned photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston.” Photograph. May 22, 2010. From Library of Congress: Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010639482/. Fallis, S. W., photographer. “[“Spirit” photograph, supposedly taken during a seance, actually a double exposure or composite of superimposed cut-outs, showing woman, half-length, with head-and-shoulders portraits of men and women around her head]/by John K. Hallowell, Chicago, Ill.; S.W. Falls, photographer, Chicago.” Photograph. c. 1901. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91732576/. Muybridge, Eadweard, artist. “The zoopraxiscope- - Horse galloping.” Lithograph. c.1863. From Library of Con-gress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00650866/. Curtis, Edward S., photographer. “Vanishing race – Navaho (The North American Indian; v.01).” photograph. c.1904. From Library of Congress: Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian: Photographic Images. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/curt:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28cp01001%29%29 (accessed No-vember 2, 2010).

CITATIONS, cont. The Jewish Herald. “Make That Summer Trip With A Kodak.” June 22, 1911. From Library of Congress: Chronicling America. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn93068209/1911-06-22/ed-1/seq-16/. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. “Leo, 48 inches high, 8 years old. Picks up bobbins at 15 cents a day in Elk Cot-ton Mills. He said, “No, I don’t help me sister or mother, just myself,” Location: Fayetteville, Tennessee.” Photo-graph. November 1910. From Library of Congress: National Child Labor Committee Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ncl2004000617/PP/. Wright, Wilbur and Orville Wright, photographers. “[Three-quarter left rear view of glider in flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.]” Photograph. 1911. From Library of Congress: Wright Brothers Negatives. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001696628/.

Prokudin-Gorskiĭ, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich, photographer. “Tipy Dagestana.” Negative (3 frames): glass, b&w, three-color separation. c.1905-1915. From Library of Congress: Prokudin-Gorskii Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/prk2000001215/. Cady, Harrison. “Peter Rabbit: He tries to raise a little money by photography but his first attempt fails.” New-York Tribune. October 8, 1922. From Library of Congress: Chronicling America. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1922-10-08/ed-1/seq-99/. Bain News Service, publisher. “German Camera for Aircraft.” Photograph. From Library of Congress: Bain Collec-tion. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2005021769/. “Photographs, second annual exhibition, Sioux City Camera Club.” Poster. 1936-1939. From Library of Congress: Posters: WPA Posters. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96510383/. Leffler, Warren K., photographer. “Wounded servicemen arriving from Vietnam at Andrews Air Force Base.” Pho-tograph. March 8, 1968. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003673977/. Palmer, Alfred T., photographer. “This woman worker at the Vultee-Nashville is shown making final adjustments in the wheel well of an inner wing before the installation of the landing gear, Nashville, Tenn. This [is] one of the nu-merous assembly operations in connection with the mass production of Vultee “Vengeance” dive bombers.” Photo-graph. February 1943. From Library of Congress: Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photo-graphs. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1992001209/PP/. Leffler, Warren K., photographer. “Civil rights march on Washington, D.C.” Photograph. August 28, 1963. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003654393/. Highsmith, Carol M., photographer. “Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi.” Photograph. October 9, 2008. From Library of Congress: Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010630792/.