Early Photography

I collect and research photographs taken by early women photographers, 1839-1900. 

Daguerreotype of a woman wearing a bonnet with silk ties, c. 1846-1853 by Miss Charlotte Prosch, Newark, NJ.  Charlotte Prosch was one of the earliest female photographers in the United States. She was the sister of inventor George Washington Prosch who constructed the first camera produced in America at the behest of Samuel F. B. Morse. 

Label in daguerreotype viewing case patented by Ann F. Stiles of Southbury, CT, in 1850.

Self-portrait by Hannah Maynard, c. 1885.  Hannah Maynard was a Canadian photographer who pioneered the use of special effects in photography. In this photograph the effect is  subtle -- she appears to be standing in a doorway.  Two images were combined to create the effect.