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470 BCE
First Mention of the Camera Obscura
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Invention of Lithography
Lithography, or a print making technique using engraving, was used to reproduce images in multiples. -
Lewis and Clark begin their expedition
Lewis and Clark begin their journey to map the west. -
Earliest Known Photograph
Nicephore Niepce created the first surviving photograph using a pewter plate coated in bitumen of Judea which was exposed to the outside for over 8 hours. The photograph is inaccurate due to exposure time, but known as the first photograph nonetheless. -
Typewriter Invented
Documentation increased and improved. -
European Industrial Revolution Ends
The industrial revolution occurred during the first half of the 19th century, and shaped the largely rural parts of Europe into urban and industrialized communities. -
Invention of Photographic Processes
Henry Fox Talbot and Louis-Jacques Mande Deguerre were credited for the invention of sustainable photographic processes. There is much debate about who actually created the photographic processes first. Whether it be Talbot, with his long developed technique the Calotype, or Deguerre with the Daguerreotype. -
Anna Atkin publishes "British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions"
Anna Atkins published her first book which consisted of Cyanotype images, or images that are chemically processed and give a cyan-blue color. -
Henry Fox Talbot published "The Pencil of Nature"
Talbot published his first book consisting all of silver gelatin photographs. He intended the photography as art rather than as science, despite the classification at the time of photography as art-science. -
Albumen Printing
The albumen print process consisted of sensitizing paper to UV, and then placing it directly under a negative plate and in front of sunlight to process the image using UV. This is one of the most widely reproducible print processes of the 19th century -
Fugitive Slave Act Enacted
This act enabled the returning of slaves to their owners after escape to free states. -
Wet Collodion Process created
The wet collodion process consists of coating a glass plate with collodion (cellulose nitrate) to create the negative and then a positive print process. -
Crimean War
The Crimean war was fought between Russia and Britain (primerily) on the Crimean Peninsula -
Roger Fentons Photography
Roger Fenton became one of the first accredited war photographers. He depicted instances in the Crimean War, like battlefields post battle or generals sitting on their horses. Overall, he depicted the war and generals in a respectful and almost romantic manner, rather than the gruesome way many later war photographers showed war. -
Combination Printing - Rejlander and Henry Peach Robinson
Combination printing, or the printing process using multiple negatives, was made popular by Rejlander and continued by Robinson. -
Lewis Carroll begins photography career and becomes influential in portraiture.
Lewis Carroll became an influential photographer through his portraiture. He often took pictures of children, but also grown adults. He later became famous for being the author of "Alice in Wonderland". -
American Civil War
The American Civil War was fought between the more liberal north and the conservative/Confederate south. The war was fought primarily over the ability to own slaves. -
Cameristas
The Cameristas were photographers who followed the armies in the American Civil war to take photos, often using cameras called tintype cameras that took more than one photo at once. These portraits taken during the war were often sent to families of the soldiers. -
Alexander Gardener Photography
Alexander Gardener depicted the horrors and greusomeness of the American Civil War. He was employed by Mathew Brady who is said to be a very famous Civil War photographer, yet took very few images himself. Gardener was a very polarizing figure, as he brought awareness to the horrors of war but also brought the hardships back to the people. -
Julia Margaret Cameron Photography
Photography was often used as documentation, however Julia Margaret Cameron used her photography as an art form, creating portraits that depicted fiction inspired scenes. Her images were whimsical in nature, as they were not clean and crisp. -
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland published by Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll, outside of his photography, publishes the well known book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" -
Alexander Gardener Publishes "The Photographic Sketchbook of The War"
Alexander Gardener published his book of images from the American Civil War. The book was not widely successful, however the images were, and can be found in many collections -
Telephone Invented
After the invention of the telephone, communication was revolutionized throughout the world. Alexander Graham Bell is a genious! -
Mark Twain creates some of his most famous work
In 1876 Mark Twain published "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and in 1884 he published "The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin", which then became his most famous and well read books. -
President James Garfield Assassinated
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The Photo Secession Movement
A movement created by Alfred Stieglitz in order to move away from Pictoralism - or softer unrealistic photography, to straight photography that depicted realism.
