State Library-Florida
Florida Memory: Daguerreotype to Digital: Brief History of Photography
Online history of the photographic process arranged by type and time period.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography
American Experience offers a comprehensive look at George Eastman and his development of photography. Included are a timeline, biographies of important people in Eastman's personal and professional life, discussions in the history of...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: Every Picture Has a Story
Smithsonian Education presents "Every Picture Has a Story". Teachers can download this comprehensive teaching package in which students examine some of the millions of photographs in the Smithsonian. This amazing teaching package comes...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Digital Photography: Module 1: Past/present [Pdf]
In this first module of a course on Digital Photography, students learn about the history of photography, different styles and movements, photographers of the 20th and 21st centuries, tools photographers use for expression, and how...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Early Photography: Niepce, Talbot and Muybridge
Photography is a controversial fine art medium, simply because it is difficult to classify-is it an art or a science? Nineteenth-century photographers struggled with this distinction, trying to reconcile aesthetics with improvements in...
Other
The Daguerreian Society
A great resource for students or teachers interested in the history of photography, specifically the earliest method, the daguerreotype, of the 19th century.
George Eastman Museum
African Americans: Black History Through Photography
A collection of photographs from the Eastman House collection. They include portraits of important figures who shaped American history, as well as many other African Americans, whose names are unknown.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's First Look Into the Camera (Daguerreotypes)
A searchable database from the Library of Congress that provides a fascinating look into the history of photography from 1839-1864. There are images from the Matthew Brady Studio and studio portraits by black photographers James P. Ball...
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute Online: Motion Photography
Learn about the history of motion in photography. Eadweard Muybridge was very interested in photography and "had nothing to do but try" motion photography. Read his story here. Included are resources for the teacher and activities for...
Library of Congress
Loc: Photographs of the Detroit Publishing Company: 1880 1920
An online collection of historical and archival photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company that show American life, industry, agriculture, and more from this period of rapid change.
Library of Congress
Loc: Popular Photographic Print Processes
This link is designed in a historic presentation to explain the various processes and functions of photography.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Every Picture Has a Story
This retrospect on photography looks at the history of this art form and compares it to its function today.
Art Cyclopedia
Artcyclopedia: Alphabetical Listing of Photographers
ArtCyclopedia offers a list of notable photographers from the formation of the media to the present--and links to biographies and works.
George Eastman Museum
Eastmanhouse: Inventors in Imaging Technologies
See how George Eastman, Thomas Edison, and Wilhelm Roentgen impacted American film history and had inventions that were interrelated.
Other
Media History Digital Library: Technical Journals Collection (1916 1965)
A large collection of original journals that focus on the technology behind motion pictures, covering cinematography, photography, projection engineering, etc.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: William Henry Fox Talbot
The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides this informative page on William Henry Fox Talbot(1800-1877)and the invention of photography. With information and pictures this in a nice resource for study.
George Eastman Museum
Lewis Hine: Immigration and the Progressive Era
Lewis Hine documented the conditions of life during the industrial development of America. His photographs show the impact of both child labor and immigration.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Zaida Ben Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer
Exhibit documents the life and work of early twentieth-century New York portrait photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf, who broke with many of the conventions of portraiture and, thereby, attracted the attention of prominent artistic, literary,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Mathew Brady's Portraits
Exhibition of photographic portraits taken by Civil War-era photographer Mathew Brady, who made portraits of many illustrious Americans on both sides of the conflict before, during, and after the war. Includes an animated explanation of...
Other
Photogravure: Art of the Photogravure
Comprehensive resource about the intaglio process of photogravure, compiled and maintained by photographer Mark Katzman. Extensively illustrated account of the history of the art form, along with many useful sidebars on key artists...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Magazine Migrant Madonna
An article by Rebecca Maksel that delves into the mystery of the woman in the famous photograph by Dorothea Lange. The history of the photograph is revealed as is the woman's identity.
Museum of Modern Art
Mo Ma: Manuel Alvarez Bravo
The Museum of Modern Art offers a nice biography and a few images of this great Mexican photographer.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Touring Turn of the Century America
This collection contains thousands of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company and gives viewers the opportunity to explore America from the period of 1880 to 1920. Images include rural America, city life, men and women at work,...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Source: Invention: Every Picture Has a Story
Use this lesson plan to introduce students to the history of photography and to the sorts of stories that historical photographs.