Civil War photograph collection, circa 1862-1865

Often considered synonymous with Civil War photography, Mathew Brady (circa 1823-1896) was quick to identify the business opportunity that existed in supplying the public with scenes from the frontlines of the Civil War. Brady secured permissions from the War Department to document the burgeoning conflict. While he may have taken a relatively small portion of the photographs himself, Brady did employ many of the photographers who went on to capture some of the Civil War’s most iconic imagery. Relying on the newly invented collodion wet-plate process, photographers like George N. Barnard and James F. Gibson traveled across the South gathering images of individuals, structures, fortifications, and daily life at war. A positive/negative photo process allowing multiple prints to be produced, the collodion wet-plate process requires an involved preparation of plates, relatively long exposure times (5 to 20 seconds), and immediate development to preserve images. Though the process was slow and complex, the images produced would become Brady’s bread and butter as he built his studio and distributed the prints across the country. By employing Barnard, Gibson, and other field photographers, and by purchasing work from private photographers, Brady sought to create a complete photographic collection of the Civil War. The costs of creating and preserving the glass plates exhausted Brady’s resources and he went into deep debt. Though he anticipated his collection selling for $100,000, Brady eventually sold the approximately 5,700 plates to the United States government for $25,000 in 1875. Brady died in 1896 penniless and with little recognition for his role in documenting a formative chapter of American history.

Before working with Mathew Brady, George N. Barnard (1821-1882) opened one of the first daguerreotype studios in the United States in 1846 New York. During the 1850s, Barnard began working with Brady and learned the new collodion wet-plate process. Part of Brady’s initial corps of photographers sent into the field in 1862, Barnard would be named the official photographer for the United States Army, Chief Engineer's Office, Division of the Mississippi by 1864. As the army surveyed landmarks and infrastructure in the South, Barnard’s photography captured the topography, roads and railways, and cities. Though his most famous work is considered the published album on Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to Sea campaign in Georgia, Barnard also did studio and field portraiture for troops. After the war, Barnard operated several portrait studios in Ohio, Illinois, and South Carolina and worked with George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak Company) in 1880s New York.

An employee and sometimes business partner of Brady, James F. Gibson first gained fame by documenting the carnage after the Battle of Antietam with fellow photographer Alexander Gardner. When Brady’s New York City gallery showed the series, titled The Dead at Antietam, it created a sensation as the first time photography of slain soldiers was ever seen by the public. Partnering with George Barnard, Gibson traveled across the South documenting camp life, the aftermath of battles (limitations in camera technology precluded photographing during battles), and making portraits for soldiers. Gibson would also photograph the casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the most deadly battle in the war. Following the war, Gibson served as the manager of Brady's New York studio. In an attempt to control his growing debt, Brady even went so far as to sell Gibson a portion of the studio in 1867.