The Langenheims of Philadelphia

Abstract

Abstract The history of American photography begins in Philadelphia in the 1830s; in particular, at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. Medical education was much more generalized then, and many students took the medical course as an all-round preparation for scientific research. Working together with the likes of Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry, a number of individuals important to the beginning of photography in the United States developed their scientific knowledge at Penn, and a few did specific research in the chemistry of light sensitive substances. As a result, Daguerre's 1839 announcement fell on fertile soil. Dr Paul Beck Goddard, who taught anatomy at the University, developed the bromine accelerator for the daguerreotype. Dr Bird, a chemistry professor, first scoffed at Daguerre's invention as a ‘moon-hoax’, but later became, in M. A. Root's words, ‘the ablest writer on sun-painting in the United States’.1 Dr Kirkbride graduated in 1832, and went on to become the city's fo...