International Directory of Photo Historians

This directory provides information on the current research interests, websites, and means of contacting historians of photography from around the world. Before contacting any of these people, remember that many are busy professionals with no obligation to reply to your message; be courteous and reasonable in your requests for information. This is an international listing, remember that many of those listed do not speak English as their primary language. This is not the place to ask general questions or learn about the history of photography -- open discussions on such topics should be directed to the appropriate discusion group, such as PhotoHistory for the history of photography; PhotoID for dating and identifying photographic subjects and photographers; GenPhoto for photographs used in genealogy, or Cartes-de-Visite for that type of photograph.

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Photo Historians

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NameLocationReasearch InterestsComments
Current ProjectsWebsitesContact
Borges de Araújo, NunoBraga, Portugal19th century photography in Portugal, particularly in the Entre-Douro-e-Minho region (Braga, Porto, Viana do Castelo districts)
    Contact
    Nuno Borges de Araújo
    Griffiths, AlanHalifax, NS, CanadaThe creation of freely accessible databases and online resources on all aspects of photo-history. Interested in collaborative projects on metadata and the sharing of datasets.Always interested in working collaboratively with photo-historians, curators, private collectors, institutions and related organisations that wish to publicize parts of their collections or a specific exhibition. A great many people on this list will have already joined in. - Thanks to you all.
    The Luminous-Lint project has been running for over four years and has put over 450 photographic exhibitions online. These provide thematic studies that are being used for the larger projects examining the history of photography.
    Contact
    Alan Griffiths
    King, TerryRichmond,Surrey,UKEarly Photographic Processes. Hands-on workshops. retro-invention using knowledge and materials of the time.
    Wedgwood to Bromoil workshops.

    Asphaltum heliogravures.
    Contact
    Terry King
    Leiderman, JimmyMiami, Florida. USA19th Century Baseball Photography Historian and Collector. Interested in 1860s & 1870s Baseball and Cricket CDVs, Tintypes, Ambrotypes, Stereoviews and Cabinets depicting single player, team images and baseball action views.
    Working on a 19th Century Baseball CDV and Stereoviews checklist. Early baseball team ID projects.
      Contact
      Jimmy Leiderman
      Morris, Andrew JCerro de Ortega, Colima, MexicoDating and identifying old photographs. Historic photographers.ClassyArts.com has a massive database of historic photographers, as well as extensive information of value in dating and identifying old photographs, and a growing collection of public domain photographs.
      Identifying and Dating American Photographs

      19th Century Cleveland Ohio Photographers

      Pennsylvania Photographers from the US Tax Records 1862-66
      Contact
      Andrew J Morris
      Spira, JonathanNew York City, N.Y. United StatesPre-history of photography, persistence of vision, 3-D, early photographic processes, technology, electronic (non-digital) still-video cameras, digital cameras, Spiratone
      Contact
      Jonathan Spira
      Weynants, ThomasGentpre-cinema - optical toys - early vintage photography - nitrate film - early film - early television - conjuring arts - spiritism - cabaret & vaudeville - street performersEarly visual media: a history of visual media is an unconventional website dealing with early visual media and pre-cinema, from the perspective of its Belgian creator, Thomas Weynants. Much of the site is concerned with the history of optical illusion and special effects prior to the twentieth century, but does also include the history of television. The site's author describes it as a contemporary raree-show. It consists of various galleries of weird and wonderful inventions and images, mostly from Western Europe. The seven main sections, all of which are well illustrated, cover photography, pre-cinema, early film, television, fairground art, conjuring arts and the death dance. The photography section looks at stereoscopic images, diableries, ghost images, stereoviewers, and fairground and vaudeville entertainments. The pre-cinema section looks at many of the technologies used to create optical illusions before the advent of modern film. These include various phantasmagoria devices, optical toys, the Phenakistiscope, the Choreutoscope, and anamorphoses techniques. There is a tendency throughout the displays to emphasise the weird, the erotic, and the macabre. The website also features a links section, and pages alerting users to forthcoming publications, lectures and gallery exhibitions. The site is both fascinating and a little disorientating (which is presumably intended). It should prove of interest both to the general public and to students approaching the lesser-known facets of European visual culture and technology.

      James Wilson
      Contact
      Thomas Weynants
      Wood, RichardJuneau, Alaska, USAResearch & collect early Alaska photographers & stereographers, particularly H. H. Brodeck; George Davison; Alphonse Pinart; Moise Lorenz (aka Moses or Mike Lorenz); Muybridge; Partridge; deGroff; Winter & Brown; A. L. Broadbent; T. W. Ingersoll, Continent Stereoscopic, Stephen Allen Spencer; Richard Maynard. Also collect & research cartes de visite of people who were in (or associated with) Alaska. Also research, collect, and give shows of Alaska and Yukon magic lantern slides, and coming attraction slides for early Alaska and Yukon films. Also avidly research and collect related ephemera.
      Working on a book about photographer H.H. Brodeck.

      Researching G.S. Moler sectional magic lantern slide cabinets.
      Contact
      Richard Wood