Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

September 12, 1993
By Alice Mahalek
Vigo County Historical Society

Old photos fix images of era for the future

Among the many treasures in the museum that tickle the fancy or stir the imagination is a display case containing examples of various photographic processes that flourished throughout the later half of the 19th century. These include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and the more familiar tintypes.

In August 1839, Jacque Maude’ Daguerre announced in Paris that he had perfected a revolutionary picture-taking process.

By September, the techniques had arrive in America and by the mid-1840s photographic studios proliferated throughout the populous East.

Around 1850, the ambrotype was introduced. In this process, a thin glass negative was given a backing of black fabric or varnish. The dark background then made the negative appear as a positive.

The tintype by which a photograph was taken directly as a positive print on a sensitized plate of enameled tin was developed at about the same time.

Pictures using any of these processes were generally taken in a studio setting because of the difficulty of transporting cumbersome equipment and chemicals.

In 1854, Adolph Eugene Desderi patented a four-lensed portrait camera which produced multiple images on a single negative. As a consequence, sitters could get prints of identical or similar poses at a much lower cost.

The relative ease and affordability of getting pictures taken led to the widespread use of these images which were employed as visiting cards or placed in elaborate albums.

They also were included as forget-me-nots in sentimental Victorian billets-doux before the lamentable invention, the telephone, eventually led to the demise of the personal letter.

Such photographs performed another function as well although a tiny bit gruesome. If a person declined to have a picture taken while alive, the reluctant sitter, now lying, was photographed and the image of one at eternal rest was distributed to relative and friends.

Beyond whatever interest the various processes and techniques may have, it is absorbing to study the subjects themselves and attempt to fathom the facades that present themselves in the lens, sometimes shyly, often boldly, but always acutely conscious that they are providing the public with a testament of the beautiful and brave picture they were projecting. Did the woman, in fact, ultimately get weary constantly wearing the shame shabby dress? Did the boy grow to be the hoped-for paragon of virtue and industry? What of the parents of the lad who lies dead in the coffin?

As Sir Thomas Browne observed, these like the song the Sirens sang and what name Achilles assumed, are puzzling questions but not beyond all conjecture.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Return Home