jan09b.indd internet resources Ellen Bahr Uncapping the lens The history of early photography The following list developed out of a personal interest in photography and an interest in early photographic processes in particular. Explore some of the sites here to learn about the rich history of traditional pho- tography. Included are overviews, timelines, descriptions of photographic processes, re- sources for traditional photography supplies, podcasts, online discussion lists, organiza- tions, portals, and image collections. The focus for the most part is on noncom- mercial sites that would be useful to students, historians, and practitioners of traditional photography. Overviews • A History of Photography: From Its Beginnings to the 1920s. This site is a good starting point for learning about the history of photography. It includes suggested readings, an essay on the beginning of photography, more than 100 biographic sketches of impor- tant figures in the history of photography, and information about the major processes, styles, and movements in photography. Maintained by author and educator Robert Leggat. Access: http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory. • Midley History of Photography. Mid- ley refers to the ancestral home of R. Derek Wood, who published many scholarly articles on the history of photography. In addition to the scholarly articles, the site also includes a number of interesting primary source docu- ments, such as letters written by Wood and documentation of early dioramas in Paris and London. Access: http://www.midley.co.uk. • T he Fir st Photog raph. The First Photograph is an online exhibit from the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas-Austin. The exhibition is built around a “heliograph,” taken by Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. The site includes the story of how photo-historian Helmut Gernsheim followed clues to locate the photograph and establish its provenance. He later donated it to the Ransom Center. Ac­ cess: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions /permanent/wfp/. • The Foundations of an Art: A Prehis- tory of Photography. This site focuses on two discoveries—the camera obscura and pho- tochemistry—which were essential to the later development of photography. Access: http:// www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs /session2/group60/history.htm. Timelines • Image Permanence Institute Photog- raphy Timeline. This concise timeline in- cludes examples of images made with various photographic processes. Access: http://www. archivaladvisor.org/shtml/gal_phototimeline. shtml. • Metropolitan Museum of Art Heilb- runn Timeline of Art History. Written by the museum’s curatorial, conservation, and education staff, this timeline let’s you explore art history, including photography, by date, geography, or theme. Access: http://www. metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm. • Photomuse. Photomuse provides a year-by-year chronology of photography from 1830 to 2006. The timeline is organized into ten-year increments and cross-referenced Ellen Bahr is information systems librarian at Alfred University, e-mail: bahr@alfred.edu © 2009 Ellen Bahr C&RL News January 2009 32 mailto:bahr@alfred.edu http://www http://www www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions http:http://www.midley.co.uk http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory with political and cultural events in the same years. Access: http://photomuse.org/chrono. html. • T i m e l i n e o f C o l o r P h o t og r a p hy. Compiled by Jennifer Uhrhane from a variety of sources, this Web site provides a timeline of events in the development of color pho- tography. Access: http://www.bu.edu/prc /GODOWSKY/timeline.htm. Overviews of photographic processes • British Library, Historic Photographs, Photographic Processes. This site provides definitions and examples of eight early photo- graphic processes. Access: http://www.british -library.uk/onlinegallery/features/photo- graphicproject/photographicprocesses. html. • Glossary of Processing Terms. Part of a larger site of Victorian photograph ex- hibit catalogs, this page provides overviews of more than 50 terms related to photo- graphic processing. Includes suggestions for additional reading and links to examples from exhibits. Access: http://peib.dmu.ac.uk /about/glossary.php. • Lost and Found: Rediscovering Early Photographic Processes. This is the online component of an exhibition on early photo- graphic processes, held at the Fisher Gallery at the University of Southern California. Focuses on ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, and miniature cases. Access: http://imsc. usc.edu/haptics/LostandFound/welcome. html. • Victoria and Alber t Museum: Pho- tographic Processes. This site provides concise explanations of more than 20 pho- tographic processes. Access: http://www. vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography /processes.php. Individual photographic processes • Albumen: Albumen Photog raphs: Histor y, Science and Preser vation. Sec- tions are devoted to primary source literature, the science and technology of albumen prints and implications for preservation, a gallery of albumen prints, a video demonstrating the albumen photographic process, and a discussion forum. Access: http://albumen. stanford.edu. • Art of the Photogravure. This site has extensive information on the role of the photogravure in the history of photog- raphy. It includes information about key photographers, a detailed description of the photogravure process, a searchable database of early and contemporary photogravures, information about collecting photogravures, and a glossary of terms. Access: http://www. photogravure.com/history/chapter_introduc- tion.html. • The Making of a Daguerreotype. This detailed guide shows step-by-step how da- guerreotypes were made and photographs of the equipment and materials that were used. Access: http://www.daguerre.org/resource /exhibit/brochure.htm. Materials and workshops • Bostick and Sullivan. Bostick and Sullivan is another source for supplies, infor- mation, and workshops on alternative photo- graphic processes. Access: http://www.bostick -sullivan.com. • P h o t og r a p h e r s ’ Fo r m u l a r y. T h i s is a good source of supplies for predigital photographic processes. Photographers’ Formulary also offers workshops in alter- native and traditional darkroom processes. Access: http://www.photoformulary.com /DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1. Podcasts • George Eastman House Podcasts. Us- ing a blog format, the George Eastman House is publishing podcasts on a variety of topics, some related to early photography. The public is invited to submit ideas for podcast stories. Access: http://podcast.eastmanhouse.org. • Histor y of Photography Podcasts: Class lectures with Jeff Cur to from College of DuPage. Jeff Curto, a pho- tography professor at the College of January 2009 33 C&RL News http:http://podcast.eastmanhouse.org http:http://www.photoformulary.com http:sullivan.com http://www.bostick http://www.daguerre.org/resource http://www http:stanford.edu http://albumen http://www http://imsc http:http://peib.dmu.ac.uk http://www.british http://www.bu.edu/prc http://photomuse.org/chrono DuPage, makes his class lectures available via this Web site. Handouts and slides are also provided. See especially the two-part survey of the history of photography. Access: http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com. Discussions lists • Photography and Imaging Oriented Mailing Lists on the Internet. See especially the following lists: PhotoHistorianListRPS, Photohist-L, PACHP, the International Kodak Historical Society, and PhotoHistory. Access: http://people.rit.edu/andpph/photolists.html. Organizations • George Eastman House. An inde- pendent nonprofit museum dedicated to photography and motion pictures. The online collection includes digitized selec- tions from the museum’s extensive holdings. Access: http://www.eastmanhouse.org/inc /collections/photography.php. • Metropolitan Museum of Art: Edu- cational Resources for Photography. This site provides an introduction to the museum’s photography collection, 100 digitized selec- tions from the museum’s holdings organized in a rough chronology, extensive informa- tion on current and past exhibitions, and the location of photograph galleries in the museum. Access: http://www.metmuseum. org/Works_Of_Art/department.asp?dep=19. • Museum of Modern Art Photography Department. The Museum of Modern Art has many examples of early photography that can be browsed or searched via the Web site. Access: http://www.moma.org /collection/search.php. • The Daguer reian Society. The site includes a daguerreotype FAQ, a searchable image database, browsable image galleries organized by subject (including contemporary Daguerreotypes), and resources for research (articles, bibliographies, a brief history of da- guerreotypes, illustrations of the daguerreian process, and links to additional resources). Access: http://www.daguerre.org. Preservation • Image Permanence Institute (IPI). IPI is dedicated to research on the preservation of recorded information, with an emphasis on photographic processes. IPI’s activities include research, testing, publishing, sur- veying and consulting, and education and training. IPI’s “Preservation Calculator” can be downloaded from the site. Links are pro- vided to additional organizations concerned with preservation. The site includes a use- ful glossary of terms. Access: http://www. imagepermanenceinstitute.org. Portals • Art Histor y Resources on the Web: Photography. This free-wheeling portal maintained by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe of Sweet Briar College. The photography section includes links to information about artists, photographic processes, organizations, and collections. Access: http://witcombe.sbc. edu/ARTHprints.html#photography. • intute. intute is a portal of high-quality online resources for education and research. A search on “photography history” retrieves 378 results. Or, use the Subjects A-Z list to fi nd Photography and its subtopic, Photography History. Access: http://intute.ac.uk. • Librarians Index to the Inter net. A search on “history photography” retrieves more than 100 sites. Access: http://lii.org. Exhibition catalogs • De Montfort Database of Royal Pho- tographic Society Exhibitions 1870-1915. Based in part on Roger Taylor’s site below, this database by De Montfort University pro- vides access to a research database of more than 45,000 records from the annual exhibi- tion catalogs of the Photographic Society, London, published between 1870 and 1915. Unlike Taylor’s site, this site also includes reproductions of the catalog pages, includ- ing pictures of photographs published in the catalogs. Access: http://erps.dmu.ac.uk. C&RL News January 2009 34 http:http://erps.dmu.ac.uk http:http://lii.org http:http://intute.ac.uk http://witcombe.sbc http:imagepermanenceinstitute.org http://www http:http://www.daguerre.org http:http://www.moma.org http://www.metmuseum http://www.eastmanhouse.org/inc http://people.rit.edu/andpph/photolists.html http:http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com • Roger Taylor’s Database of Photo- graphic Exhibitions in Britain 1839-1865. Based on a book by the same title, this Web site provides access to a research database of more than 20,000 records from 40 exhibition catalogs published between 1839 and 1865. Records can be searched or browsed by ex- hibition, photographer, process, and price. Access: http://peib.dmu.ac.uk. Searchable image collections • America’s First Look Into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1838- 1864. From the Library of Congress American Memory project, this collection includes more than 700 photographs taken between 1839 and 1864, including portraits and architectural photographs. The collection can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject. Access: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml. • Early Photography: 1839-1860. This online catalog provides access to nearly 4,000 early photographs from the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Print Room of the University of Leiden, and 25 other muse- ums, libraries, and archives in the Netherlands. Search or browse by photographer, title words, or photographic process. Access: http://www. earlyphotography.nl/indexonload2.htm. • Joconde. Jaconde is an online catalog for museum collections across France. The catalog currently contains digital images for more than 15,000 photographs. The Web site is available in French only. To browse photo- graphs, from the homepage select Recherche par listes, followed by Domaine, and then Pho- tographie. Access: http://www.culture.gouv. fr/documentation/joconde/fr/pres.htm. • Library of Congress: Prints and Pho- tographs Online Catalog. Use the online catalog to search the holdings of the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Many of the images are available online. Collections can be searched individu- ally or as a group. Search is by keyword or by author, title, subject, and number fi elds. Access: http://memory.loc.gov/pp/pphome.html. • New York Public Librar y Digital Galler y: Photog raphy Collection. T h e photography collection includes many ex- amples of early photographs, including 19th-century photographs from around the world (Japan, India, Egypt, Syria, Russia). Guides are available for some collections. Ac­ cess: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital /dgdivisionbrowseresult.cfm?trg=1&div_ id=hsh. Historians • PhotoHistorians. PhotoHistorians fa- cilitates communication among historians of photography. The group publishes a directory of photohistorians on its Web site, including names, contact information, and the research interests. PhotoHistorians is edited by Wil- liam Allen (Art Department, Arkansas State University). Access: http://www.clt.astate. edu/wallen/photohistorians. 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