Preserving Our Heritage

Think About This How does an heirloom or artifact reveal history? What do the objects tell us about how people lived in the past? From one decade to another what objects basically stayed the same (continuity) or changed?

Think About This How do we know so much about our heritage? Is photography important in preserving our heritage?

Preserving Our Heritage We know so much about our past and our heritage because of photography and rural pioneers. These pioneers depended on traveling photographers to take pictures of their family and their possessions.

Preserving Our Heritage Taking pictures was a rare event in the early 1900s because it had only been since 1838 or 1839 that the French inventor, Louis Daguerre, had produced the first popular form of photography on a metal plate.

Preserving Our Heritage "Boulevard du Temple", taken by Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839 in Paris, was the first photograph of a person. Can you find the person in this photo? Even though the exposure time was over ten minutes for this photo, the man was standing still getting his boots polished the whole time.

Preserving Our Heritage Professional photographers traveled from place to place with their camera seeking customers.

Preserving Our Heritage Think about when you have your school picture taken. From the time the photographer tells you to “Say Cheese” until the camera makes a flash, it takes less than a second.

Preserving Our Heritage Now imagine you lived in the 1800s or 1900s. The first crude cameras required a long exposure time. The traveling photographer's large camera stood motionless on a tripod.

Preserving Our Heritage The people being photographed would stand in motionless, serious poses to keep the photo from being blurred. This is why few photographs from this time period show people smiling.

Preserving Our Heritage  The negatives had to be processed immediately, so the traveling photographer used his enclosed wagon as a darkroom and developing laboratory.

Preserving Our Heritage  Early photography required that a person know how to use complicated photographic equipment and that a person could afford to buy this equipment. As technology improved, cameras became smaller, less complicated, more portable, and more affordable.

Preserving Our Heritage  Inventions and improvements such as the flashbulb camera (1931), color photography (1935), the instant, self-processing camera (1963), and the digital camera have increased the versatility and use of photography over time.

Preserving Our Heritage  So, the next time you have your picture taken or you see some pictures of your family, remember the rural pioneers and inventors of photography. They made it possible for you to...