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A History of Photography in USC Libraries Collections

Copy of pocket daguerrotype [sic] of Mrs. Logan and Mrs. Tucker, which Gen. John A. Logan carried in his pocket during the Civil War

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2. Camera machine used by Eadweard Muybridge during his experiments in action photography, ca.1875 Photograph of the camera machine used by Eadweard Muybridge during his experiments in action photography, ca.1875. A large shed is pictured at center, into which a long opening has been made. Twenty-four cameras are visible arranged inside, numbered above on the building from right to left. An apparatus of wire, track and posts is visible on the ground in front of them.; Picture File Card quotes from Beumont Newhall's History of Photography: "Strings attached to electric switches were stretched across the track--the horse, rushing past, breasted the strings and broke them, one after the other--the shutter released by an electro-magnetic control, and a series of images made.", and "Drawings from Muybridges photos were pasted on strips and viewed in a mechanism known as a Zoetrope, a precursor of motion pictures. It was a topless drum which flipped on it[s] side, mounted on a spindle so that it could be twirled. Drawings showing successive phases of action placed inside the drum, and viewed through the slits were seen one after the other, so quickly that the images merged in the mind to produce the illusion of motion. In 1880, using a similar technique with a device he [called] the Zoopraxiscope, Muybridge projected his pictures on a screen at the Cal. School of Fine Arts, San Francisco and produced the first motion pictures.".
3. Fashions (Hat collection) (Old vintage), 1956 1 image. Fashions (Hat collection) (Old vintage), 11 September 1956. Betsy Talbot Blackwell (model); Audrey Clark (model); Betty Koch (model); Richard F. Brown (Chief Curator of Art of Los Angeles County Museum); Pat Keith (model).; Caption slip reads: "Photographer: Miller. Reporter: Waymire. Assignment: Hat collection. Betsy Talbot Blackwell; model Audrey Clark; Model Betty Koch (in 1927 Milan straw). Richard F. Brown, Chief Curator of Art, L.A. Co. Museum , studies 1942 mini-trim. Betsy Talbot Blackwell models new Lynx Sally Victor; Model Pat Keith in 1945 Lilly Dacke".
6. Kodachrome - Adohr & Brandt Dairies, Southern California, 1940.
10. Members of mission household outside rear of mission house, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, India, ca.1885-1889 "London Mission House, Vizianagram (Back)". View of mission building with staff in fornt. One man holds a horse. A woman stands next to a samll seated child in the doorway.; One of 89 albumen prints mounted on 27 loose album pages, taken or compiled by Sarah Goffin, wife of L.M.S. missionary, Herbert James Goffin (1850-1932). Sarah Goffin sailed to India following her marriage in 1878 and spent the next eleven years at the L.M.S. station at Vizianagaram, before moving on to other districts in India. Engravings based on a number of these photographs appear in the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, including 1886 and 1888.
12. Pupils of Mabumbu school
13. QC-30.015.0031

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Copy of a pocket daguerreotype, ca. 1885–90
This image, taken between 1885 and 1890, shows a pocket daguerreotype that belonged to American General John A. Logan. The two circular daguerreotypes enclosed in this small frame are of a Mrs. Logan and a Mrs. Tucker, who must have been very important to General Logan. Daguerreotypes were produced on metal plates using silver iodine and bromide to make the plate sensitive to light and were developed with mercury vapors and ultimately fixed with salt and water. Daguerreotypes have since become obsolete due to this rigorous process and because the vapors from the mercury are very toxic. Despite these difficulties and dangers, the daguerreotype became a popular alternative to the expensive painted miniature and a marvel for its extraordinary detail. Professional painters needed great skill to produce something this small in size with anywhere close to this much detail and therefore their services were very expensive. Daguerreotypes have extremely high resolution, even by our modern standards, because of the use of these mercury fumes, which was another contributing factor as to why photographers would use this technique despite the potential danger it posed to the health of the person developing the image. There was no negative produced, so daguerreotypes are unique images that must be rephotographed by other means to be copied. And while the salt and water did fix the photographic image onto the plate, over time it would fade and discolor unless the daguerreotype was properly kept behind glass in an airtight case.