11:23 AM

Above- Daguerreian Society was welcomed to the Atlanta History Center by Sue Whiteley, early photography collector, Michael Rose, Executive Vice President of the Altanta History Center, Michael Robinson, President of the Daguerriean Society and George Whiteley, Cruator and collector for the Atlanta History Center exhibit,  The Face of America: Early Photographic Portraits from the Collections of George and Susan Whiteley.

Welcome to my blog and today I am sharing some photos from the recent symposium I attended. Bob Lansdale the offical photographer snapped these photos and you can see the 200 he took on the Daguerreian Society's Web page. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this might encourage you to get more involved with a hobby. 

The collection of the Whitely's is on exhibit until Jan 29th so if you are there, do stop by. 



The gentlemen in the vests are  Dennis Williams and Craig James esq. who sponsored the reception.





My favorite piece was this huge ivorytype of a Philidelphia photographer's wife. Ivorytypes bring such life to an ambrotype glass plate. 

Mark Osterman, Photographer and Process Historian from the George Eastman House explains the process on his web page Notes on Photographs  as
The American Ivorytype was introduced by a Mr. Wenderoth in 1855. A collodion negative was used to make a conventional gold-toned salted paper print. The details of the print were lightly painted with watercolors and cemented, image side in, to a piece of clear glass using hot wax. The glass plate bearing the colored salt print was backed with a second piece of white paper with a highly colored painting in basic shapes that registered to the photographic image. Occasionally this second piece was a lightly printed salt print that acted as a painting guide. When the two were placed together, the tones of the painted secondary sheet were visible through the waxed image mounted on the glass. The result was an image featuring subtle tones and a depth of color more often associated with oil paintings. Varying the distance between the backing and the glass-bearing image resulted in different effects of depth.
Mark does give classes for those who want to learn to take photographs at Scully & Osterman Studio




David Wynn Vaughan gave a wonderful lecture- Three years ago I visited him, he opened my eyes to how shortages during the civil war affected photography. Older style cases were reused and some were manufactured with household items like the one above shows a piece of blue paper instead of a brass mat.

Per the Daguerreian Society's web page- David is a native Atlantan who recently served as president of the Civil War Round Table of Atlanta. A collector of Confederate photography for more than 20 years, he has amassed what's been termed "the largest and most significant grouping of Confederate images from Georgia." He is a contributing editor to Military Images Magazine and examples from his collection have appeared in many Civil War books. His topic is Confederate faces in Southern-Made Cases. Vaughan said all the images he will show at the symposium were made during the Civil War "and all but two depict Confederate soldiers."


We are were treated with a stereoview show from Bob Zeller and he signed copies of his book, you can find on amazon- It even comes with a pair of the glasses.



Conversation and the sharing of ideas is the glue to keeping our society strong. From left to right  is one of the curators from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, two collectors from Oregon, a photograph dealer from Massachusetts and David Wynn Vaughan. No matter what level of expertise these people are living in harmony.

Joan Severa was there, who is my clothing expert- she is a gem and said she'd be glad to add any info to my blog...Bill Becker is a showing her some of his images during what's called Room hopping where dealers have people come in their rooms and chat, buy or share what they brought.

Then we had the trade show and he's a photo of John Craig, the man who sells the Daguerreian Registry. 

Asking any Civil War Round tables for info leading to the capture of a CDV of Henry W. Tracy - LOL
I spent at least a half an hour with a very patient CDV dealer looking for a CDV of Major Henry W Tracy C. S. & Chief Commissary who volunteered to serve under confederate General Price from Missouri. Tracy was Arabia's consignee "Tracy & Papin" - In a letter written by Tracy, he sends a CDV of Gen Price mentioning he is the greatest general and then acknowledges some of his correspondence might be signed Wilson- leading me to believe his CDV if there is one is signed Henry Wilson. I am afraid he was too paranoid to have his photograph taken in his uniform in fear of being arrested by the Union troops. I have his description and believe I have a later photo from the late 1860s of him accidentally kept in a Papin family album, but there is no name written on the back to confirm or deny this is Henry Tracy. 

And later at the banquet there was a silent auction and Keith Davis, the Senior Curator of Photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.


A few years ago, he wrote a book that Mike Robinson considered the Bible for his students to read.  You can also buy this on Amazon.


Keith Davis was presented our highest award for Academic Achivement and Mayor Jean-Pierre Spilbauer from nearby Paris France where Daguerre, who invented Photography lived, hooded him with the medal.

It does take a lot of volunteer hours and a museum willing to open its doors. So, I thank Michael Rose and the Atlanta History Center for making our gathering not only  possible but wonderful!. 

Doesn't that make you want to be with the Daguerreian Society next year?