Photographs of People In The 1840s: Early Traces of Reality

[appalachiablue]

- Photographs of People in the 1840's, including French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix, Ulysses S. Grant, James Forten, African-American abolitionist and Phila. businessman, Louis Daguerre and Dolly Madison.

Louis Daguerre's practical version of a camera obscura was announced to the world on Aug. 19, 1839. As an enthusiast of 19th c. photography, there's nothing more rare or mesmerizing than views of the mediums first decade, the 1840's. I've put together a compilation of the most interesting shots I could find spanning the whole decade. A lot of these early photographs are very faded, so I've worked on every image to get them looking as crisp is possible.

The background music is selections from Felix Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" series played by Gaby Casadesus in 1947.

[soothsayer]

1. That's mighty cool

[Bayard]

2. Intriguing

Well done!

[bucolic_frolic]

3. You did this? For us, and for the world?

That's the work of a hero for history!

Thanks!

[appalachiablue]

4. It's the caption info. for the video, not moi!

If you click on 'YouTube' in the panel above, there's info. about the video.

Sorry, I should have clarified.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Oh, I didn't know the link was embedded in the title, sorry

But the video does make me glad I wasn't alive back then (surgery? in that crowd?), not that I don't have a couple of old family photos from the 1870s, but also what we've lost. Sewing society. The hair styles. And when I think of what humanity has been through since then, the wars, plagues, suffering, lies, assassinations. The whole Vietnam War seems our troops died so they can manufacture clothing and technology cheaply for us now. Was it worth it?

[Hekate]

6. Wonderful. Kicking to watch at leisure later.

[nuxvomica]

7. One thing I've learned from these photos

They did not wash their hair a lot in the 1840s.