Smithsonian Acquisition of 19th Century Photographs by Black Photographers

[r.e.]

A New York mergers and acquisitions guy put the collection together over a period of 45 years. Unfortunately, people will probably need a New York Times subscription to read this article about the acquisition. The NY Times published it today:

Smithsonian Acquires Rare Photographs From the First African American Studios (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/arts/design/smithsonian-rare-photographs-black-daguerreotype.html)

Article sub-heading: "Daguerreotypes by James P. Ball, Glenalvin Goodridge and Augustus Washington are the centerpiece of a collection that could rewrite the early history of American photography."

The article has reproductions of eight photographs, including this ambrotype:

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[Benjamin]

This is pretty amazing.

[Drew Wiley]

Wow. We've got a lot of Daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cyanotypes, albumen prints, and early silver prints in our family collection - all such beautiful processes! Those linked examples are certainly stunning.

[BrianShaw]

Paywall. Darn NYT.

[Carl J]

Try the Smithsonian site:

https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/smithsonian-american-art-museum-acquires-extraordinary-early-photography

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/trove-new-portrait-photographs-presents-rarely-seen-diversity-19th-century-america-180978456/

[BrianShaw]

Thanks Carl… I did a quick search and found other interesting stuff at Smithsonian site… then got distracted and forgot what I was really looking for!