Civil War Photography

The american civil war was the first war to be extensively photographed.

Civil war photography. The results of the efforts of all civil war photographers can be seen in almost all of the history texts of the conflict. The center for civil war photography was founded in 1999 by author bob zeller wet plate photographer rob gibson and the late al benson. Learn more about photography during the civil war from techniques used in the 1860s including 3 d photography to what photos can reveal about battles to tips on taking photos yourself on the battlefield. Dozens of photographers some private and some employees of the army snapped photos of the soldiers as well as the locations of civil war battles the images became iconic and inspired many other.

We have very few portraits of lower ranking individuals and much of our civil war holdings highlight high ranking military personnel. From left to right. A list of selected fully digitized series are listed below. Morse who pioneered the daguerreotype technique in america.

Civil war photography was ahead of its time. Historian garry adelman discusses the innovative techniques and technologies. The civil war was one of the first wars to be documented by photography. The gist photography had been around for over 20 years before the civil war but its flowering began just before conflict broke out.

Liljenquist family collection of civil war photographs library of congress. It presaged the development of the wartime photojournalism of world war ii the korean war and the vietnam war. Photographers had to carry all of their heavy equipment including their darkroom by wagon. It was incorporated as a pennsylvania organization in october 2001 and approved by the irs as a 501 c 3 non profit organization in june 2002.

Taken sometime in 1884 or 1885 davis s family is pictured here in beauvoir mississippi. Photography during the civil war had a wide reaching impact. Civil war photographs stripped away much of the victorian era romance around warfare. In terms of photography the american civil war is the best covered conflict of the 19th century.

Brady opened his own studio in new york in 1844 and photographed andrew jackson john quincy adams and abraham lincoln among. Photography during the civil war especially for those who ventured out to the battlefields with their cameras was a difficult and time consuming process. The invention of photography in the 1820s allowed the horrors and glory of war to be seen by the public for the first time. 1822 january 15 1896 was an american photographer and one of the earliest in american history.