The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 330
675 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
cess and the nearly simultaneous announcement by Henry Fox Talbot of his in-
vention in England, the news of the discoveries reached the shores of the young
United States. By 1840 New York boasted the first photographic portrait gallery
in the world. By the 1850s photography had lifted itself from the ranks of a hob-
by to that of a profession. As the expansion of the new nation moved westward, it
was natural that both amateur and professional photographers and the business-
es that supported them with supplies and promotion, accompanied the move-
ment.
There are several publications detailing the life and work of the many photog-
raphers who worked in the western United States during the period following
the discovery of photography. None are as comprehensive as the treatment giv-
en by Palmquist and Kailbourn in their encyclopedic catalog of men and women
working, for the most part west of the Rockies and even into Mexico and, in
some cases, Central America. Not only are the photographers' lives and work re-
vealed, but also a host of the ancillary participants in the photographic arts-
printers, lithographers, dealers-are listed. The introduction by Martha
Sandweiss, professor of American studies at Amherst and former curator of pho-
tography at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, herself editor of a distin-
guished history of nineteenth-century photography (Photography in Nineteenth-
Century America, Amon Carter Museum, 1991), reveals the scope of the book in
her thoughtful foreword. She observes the book " ... is a reference works that
requires reading. Many will undoubtedly turn to it to check the birth or death
date of a photographer or to verify the source of a particular image. But if they
stop there they will have missed one of the great pleasures of this volumes, for
the lively essays often read like sketches for characters in a nineteenth-century
novel" (p. x).
The appendices include photographic companies and gallery names, a cross-
reference list of panoramas, stereopticons, cosmoramas, and other public per-
formances, a special section on women workers, and a listing of the geographical
distribution of workers. In addition, there is a wonderfully comprehensive bibli-
ography. While the authors consulted several Texas sources such as the meticu-
lous study by David Haynes, Catching Shadows: A Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century
Texas Photographers (Texas State Historical Association, 1993), and various publi-
cations of the Amon Carter Museum, unfortunately the resources of the preemi-
nent collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the
University of Texas at Austin and other Texas sources were not referenced. This
omission notwithstanding, for any person engaged in the study of photographic
history or interested in the lives of the always interesting and often outrageous
participants in the westward movement, this volume is a mandatory addition to
their library holdings.
Abilene Bill Wright
Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, x848-186i. By Durwood Ball. (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. Pp. xxi+287. Illustrations, maps, preface,October
330
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/382/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.