The Social History of Photography in Baltimore, Maryland, 1839-1930

Abstract

Before the fall of 1840, American locksmith-turned-telescope maker Henry Fitz Jr. opened Maryland’s first-ever daguerreotype studio in Baltimore. Fitz introduced the city to portrait photography from his third-floor studio at 112 Baltimore Street. From here, photography’s popularity in Baltimore grew exponentially. Daguerreotype businesses emerged downtown, creating a bustling photography hub. Eventually, the evolution and streamlining of the photographic process, alongside increased accessibility to the medium, lowered prices. This allowed Baltimoreans from every walk of life to document special events and their daily lives within the walls of these studios. Where photography in the city began as very white and male-dominated, women and African American men started making names for themselves by the turn of the century. However, lacking recognition and representation has left these photographers out of Baltimore’s historical record. African American and women photographers’ histories remain muted and largely forgotten aside from few mentions in census records and city directories. Photographs created by these photographers are even harder to find. Baltimore is often overlooked in studies of early American photography regardless of its position as the second most populated city in the United States from 1830-1850, its connection to early photographic experiments, and its early adoption of the medium. To correct this disparity, I argue for Baltimore’s diverse cast of photographers’ inclusion alongside cities like New York and Philadelphia. This thesis studies the social history of photography in Baltimore, including key players, photography processes and materials used, and how the city and the medium evolved. Newspaper articles and advertisements, census records, business directories, auction and exhibition catalogs, photography magazines, and various forms of photographs, including daguerreotypes, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, tintypes, gelatin silver prints, and photo albums, are used to not only tell a surface-level history of photography in Baltimore but also uncover previously overlooked stories of women and African photographers and the vibrant communities they photographed. I conclude with a call to action to develop and implement more preservation initiatives and projects to reveal stories of early photographers from minoritized and disadvantaged groups.