This is almost a coffee-table book, which is interesting, since it actually mentions what was probably the first “coffee-table” book, although I’m not sure people even had what we consider coffee tables in 1861. The subtitle is Early American Photography, and while this book does discuss photography – a bit of the history, a little about the process – it also showcases over one hundred period photographs. A few will be familiar, but most probably have not been seen by very many people in the intervening years.
The title comes from the days when paper money was just starting to be used. For a while, almost any bank could issue “money”, and some were barely worth the paper they were printed on – nothing more than paper promises. Apparently, early paper photographs were looked at with similar mistrust. It was possible to alter photos, which made some people nervous. The book gives a few examples, including early examples of colorization. While some changes might be considered “art”, a few photographers removed or altered the copyright of the original photographer. However, photos were also used for the first time to help settle land disputes.
While, like most of us, I enjoy looking at period photographs, I did not really know a lot about their history, especially in the United States. I had heard about daguerreotypes and tintypes, but didn’t really have a perspective on them with regard to paper photographs. Apparently, at first, paper photographs were not as popular. Having grown up with photo albums, and able to remember getting double prints when you took in film to be developed, that is hard for me to imagine.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Apparently, there were some early photographs of members of Congress and students at Yale and Harvard. The student photographs date from the early to mid1850’s, and Congress from the late 1850’s, so both are fairly early. Some of the early photos show places instead of people. However, this can also tell us a lot about our ancestor’s lives. One of the benefits of the paper photographs was that they were easy to mail to far-off family and friends, and for people who had moved away, that was definitely good.