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At the last Heritage Hunters chat, some members were asking a lot of questions about photographs and what they might expect to find in relation to their family research. Member Mary Sue found a very helpful site about dating old photographs and I am reprinting some of that information here. You should be able to compare dates from your family history and find if there are photographs available for that time period and what kind you can expect to find. This information was copied from the site
Timeline of Photographic History:
Timeline of Photographic History
1725 -1727
Johann Heinrich Schulze was the first known person to record experiments on the actions of the sun darkening chemicals. He was successful in determining it was the light not the heat that produced the results.
1802 -
Thomas Wedgwood produced silhouettes by using silver nitrate. These were very light sensitive and faded in a very short time.
1806 -
Dr. William Wollaston invented a device for artists which he called the Camera Lucida. This reflected the image onto a paper right side up so an artist could trace it.
1816 -
Joseph Nicephore Niépce first attempted to create a photograph using sensitized paper but it would be over ten years before he would succeed at keeping an image from fading quickly.
1819 -
Sir John Frederick William Herschel discovered that hyposulphite of soda could dissolve silver salts. 20 years later his discovery would be used as a photographic fixative.
1826 - 1827
Joseph Nicephore Niépce took a photograph of roof tops outside of his attic window. This is the first universally credited permanent photograph still in existence.
1829 -
Joseph Nicephore Niépce formed a partnership with Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. Joseph Nicephore Niépce died in 1833.
1834 -
The earliest known paper negative was produced by Henry Fox Talbot. He announced his process of using paper for photographs.
1837 -
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre created the first Daguerreotype photograph.
1839 -
Daguerreotype photographic process was patented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. These images were produced on a silver coated copper plate. --- Henry Fox Talbot announced his new photographic process called the Photogenic Drawing, which was different from Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre's. --- Hippolyte Bayard held the first exhibit of photographs although he did not publish his process of using sensitized paper until 1841. --- Sir John Frederick William Herschel was the first to make the term photograph popular.
1841 -
Henry Fox Talbot patented his new photographic process the Calotype, where the photograph was developed onto paper. The results were not as detailed as a Daguerreotype but an unlimited number of copies could be made.
1843 -
The first photographically illustrated book titled "British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions" was published. The author was a woman named Anna Atkins. She used photograms for her illustrations.
1844 -
Henry Fox Talbot produced a book titled "The Pencil of Nature". This was the first book to use real photographs.
1848 -
Abel Niépce discovered a way to make negatives on glass by using egg whites, salt, potassium iodide, and gallic acid.
1849 -
Sir David Brewster invented a Stereoscope which was used to view stereoscopic photographs. Two photographs were taken at the same time, side by side each representing what each human eye would see. This created a 3D effect.
1950 -
Louis Désiré Blanquard-Evard announced an improved process using albumen printing paper.
1851 -
Frederick Scott Archer discovered the Collodion process (wet plate) which only took seconds for exposure. These used glass plates for the negatives but were developed onto paper. They were as detailed as the glass Daguerreotype and could be reproduced like the Calotype. This process was not patented so it was used by many photographers.
1854 -
The Ambrotype process was patented by Frederick Scott Archer and his partner Peter Fry. --- Carte-de-visite photographs were patented by Andre Adolphe Eugene Disdéri. These small 4 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 photographs became well known after Napoleon III had his photograph taken using this process five years later.
1855 -
The tintype photograph was patented by Hamilton Smith. These photographs were less expensive to create then any proceeding photography method. Making tintype photographs was our first look at casual photographs.
1861 -
Sir James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated a method of mixing three primary colors to create the first steps to color photographs.
1864 -
Joseph Wilson Swan is known for creating the carbon process, a way to make prints permanent. Carbon prints included the use of a color so they could be made almost any tone.
1866 -
Walter Woodbury patented the Woodburytype process of photograph printing.
1871-
Richard Leach Maddox announced the dry plate process of using gelatin. This process greatly reduced the needed exposure time and the dry plate process became a standard.
1873 -
Herman Wilhelm Vogel discovers a method of making plates sensitive to dyes. A step closer to color photographs.
1878 -
The photographer Eadweard Muybridge was hired to settle a bet. Do all four feet of a horse leave the ground simultaneously when it is in a gallop? With the use of multiple cameras along a race track he proved that it was true. This also was the first step into motion photography.
1884 -
The Stebbing Automatic Camera was the first to use a roll of flexible film.
1888-
The KODAK camera was made available to the public. It was a small box camera which held a roll of film. 100 snap shots could be taken then the camera was sent to Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. so the film could be removed and developed. The first two models of Kodak cameras took round photographs. One year later the Kodak No.2 was introduced. This improved model was the first to use transparent celluloid film.
1891 -
Eastman Kodak develops a roll of film which can be loaded or unloaded from a camera without having to be in a darkroom.
1892 -
A full color photograph system was developed by Ives Kromskop. This system never became a popular success.
1900 -
The Eastman Kodak Brownie pocket camera was made available. Now everyday people could take their own photographs. The Brownie sold for $1.00.
1907 -
The Autochrome plate was the first color photograph process to become successful. It was introduced by the Lumière brothers. --- E.J. Wall announces the Bromoil print process. The earlier gum bichromate process was eventually replaced by this.
1908 -
Kinemacolor is announced by George Albert Smith and Charles Urban. This is the first color photographic process to become commercially successful on a large scale.
1914 -
The 35 mm camera and film standard was introduced. --- Kodak introduces the No. 1 Autographic Kodak Jr. camera.
1920 -
"The Cottingley Fairies". Two girls in England staged photographs with cutout images of fairies in the flora. They claimed they had been visited by fairies. Their photographs fooled many people. It was just not believed children could be so artful with photography.
1921 -
Telephoto transmission is made between Annapolis, Md., and Belin's laboratories at La Malmaison, Fr. This was the first transatlantic transmission of photographs.
1922 -
The camera flashbulb was introduced by General Electric.
1935 -
Kodak markets Kodachrome film, a low-cost color film.
1941 -
Kodak markets KODACOLOR, the first commercial film to have color negatives.
1946 -
Kodak markets Ektachrome. This is the first color film photographers can develop at home.
1948 -
Nikon introduces their first 35mm camera. --- The first instant camera is marketed by Polaroid. The Polaroid Camera used a one step developing process that took less than a minute.
1950 -
Kodak markets Eastmancolor film, a new process that improved color photographs.
1963 -
Polaroid markets their full color instant camera. --- The Kodak Instamatic is made available. This used the 126 cartridge film for easy film loading. Over 70 million were sold during the next decade.
1984 -
The first electronic camera was made by Canon.
1986 -
The first professional auto focus camera is introduced by Minolta.
1987 -
Disposable cameras were introduced. The film comes already in the camera. When all the pictures are taken the camera is taken in to be developed. The film is developed and the camera is discarded.
1988 -
Digital cameras are made available.
1991 -
Photo CDs are made available by Kodak.
1993 -
PhotoShop is released by Adobe. A high standard in photo imaging software.
1996 -
Advantix, a new type of still camera and film, was introduced.
1998 -
Polaroid introduces their "Polaroid instant PopShots one -time use camera". Like the disposable, the camera comes with film installed. After taking the 10 instant photos the camera can be mailed back to Polaroid for a rebate.
Every family historian yearns for and searches for photographs of their ancestors but the photographic record of our history is only available for a relatively recent time period. We will never have a
photograph of our Revolutionary War patriot. The best we can hope for in some cases are sketches made by someone during that time period. Next best to that would be a modern drawing of the past times. And, in some cases, there will be nothing available. Sometimes we can resort to a 'representative' photo or drawing. You will find some rendition that you can label that your ancestor 'may have looked similar to this' or 'people of this time period usually appeared like this'. Even something like that is better than nothing at all!
Another avenue to pursue would be to visit a 'living history' event where re-enactors portray various people from past times. A good example of this is the Colonial American event that one of my internet cousins visited and took photos of another one of our distant cousins re-enacting our ancestor who was a British soldier in the area around Detroit, Michigan which was called Fort Ponchartrain at that time. We found out that some of our ancestors were very instrumental in the founding and settling of Detroit by studying the history of the area. In narratives of the histories, it was mentioned that a certain man returned to Montreal from Detroit to get the wives of founder Antoine de Cadillac and various other officers and bring them safely back to the new fort. It turned out that the man they named was our ancestor and later was awarded certain land tracts that we were able to find in the land records of the area. So, that is just one case in many where the study of the area will turn up clues to pursue whereas a general Google search may not show that reference. Here is the layout I made with the photos from that modern event of people portraying historical figures.
Another thing that you can do to get photos of a time period where none are available is to visit the area where your ancestor lived. After finding where my ggreatfather owned land, I visited that physical location and found a barn there with a date of 1881 painted on it!! That was during the time that my ancestor owned the property thus leading me to believe that HE built the barn for his farming and blacksmith needs. That one fact led me to another two layouts about him.
The journaling on this layout is "We think this is George Grover's barn and homestead on Hilt Road in Center Township in Wood County, Ohio. This is the land that is shown in the 1886 atlas as being his and the date on this barn is during the time he owned this land. Cyrus and Hezediah Grover owned the land around his. All of the houses and other structures on this land appear newer than 1880s." I visited this site on Hilt Road in 2004 and took those photos.
The journaling on this layout says, "George Montreville Grover was a blacksmith in Wood County, Ohio. Although this is not a picture of his shop, I imagine that it would be similar to this one and that he would dress for work like the man in the inset." Again I took these photos at a living history event in 2004 except for the family portrait on this layout. That photo is a Xerox copy of another Xerox copy of something else, whether it be another copy or the original, I don't know. It is the only known photo of this set of grandparents belonging to anyone in my Grover group of researching descendants. None of us have the original; we only have this copy of a copy so it is of very poor quality but priceless to us nonetheless!
In conclusion, photographs play a very important and precious part in our family history. The lack of a photographic record should not deter us from depicting our ancestors or their times in a graphical way. We are an inventive and creative bunch of people so in the end ---
We make do anyway we can!
