Unidentified man and woman. F. Grice, ca. 1855.
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Time Line of the Daguerreian Era
1839
- The invention of the daguerreotype by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre is formally announced in Paris, France.
- William Henry Fox Talbot announces a cameraless photographic process called photogenic drawing, which creates images of plant forms, lace and other objects placed directly on a sheet of light-sensitive paper.
- In September, the first American daguerreotypes are made in New York City.
1840
- William Henry Harrison is elected President of the United States.
1841
- William Henry Fox Talbot patents the calotype, or paper negative process.
- President William Henry Harrison dies and is succeeded by John Tyler.
- P. T. Barnum opens the American Museum in New York City.
- Horace Greeley begins publishing The New York Tribune.
1844
- Mathew Brady opens a daguerreotype studio in New York City.
- Samuel F. B. Morse sends the first successful telegraph message between Baltimore and Washington.
- James Knox Polk is elected President of the United States.
1846
- The Mexican-American War begins.
- Sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe.
1847
- Liberia becomes an independent republic in Africa. (Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society.)
- Gold is discovered in California.
1848
- The Mexican-American War ends.
- Zachary Taylor is elected President of the United States.
1849
- William and Frederick Langenheim acquire the American rights to Talbot's calotypeprocess.
1850
- Mathew Brady begins publication of his Gallery of Illustrious Americans.
- Two American photography journals begin, the Daguerreian Art Journal and the Photographic Art Journal.
- Henry Clay's compromise slavery resolutions are laid before U.S. Senate.
- President Zachary Taylor dies; Millard Fillmore becomes President.
- Jenny Lind tours the United States.
1851
- Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype, dies.
- Daguerreotypes are exhibited at the Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations held at London's Crystal Palace.
1852
- Franklin Pierce is elected President of the United States.
1854
- James Ambrose Cutting patents the ambrotype process. (In the late 1850s, the ambrotype would replace the daguerreotype.)
- George Eastman, the father of Kodak, is born.
1856
- James Buchanan is elected President of the United States.
- The tintype is patented.
- William and Frederick Langenheim copyright the first paper photographs, stereographs of Eastern U. S. sites.
1860
- Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.
