Brady, Mathew B., c.1823–96, American pioneer photographer, b. Warren co., N.Y. Brady learned the daguerreotype process from S. F. B. Morse and in 1844 opened his own photographic studio in New York City, which brought him widespread fame. He published Gallery of Illustrious Americans in 1850 and five years later experimented successfully with the wet-plate process. He began photographing President Lincoln in 1860. When the Civil War began Brady was authorized to accompany and photograph the armies; through his efforts a vast visual record of the war was preserved. In 1875 the government purchased part of Brady's collection, but the rest passed into private hands after the photographer's financial failure. In 1954 the Library of Congress acquired the enormous Handy collection of Brady's work.

Bibliography

See R. Meredith, Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man (1946, repr. 1974); J. D. Horan, Mathew Brady, Historian with a Camera (1955); H. D. Milhollen and D. H. Mugridge, comp., Civil War Photographs (1961).

Brady, Mathew B.

(born c. 1823, near Lake George, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 15, 1896, New York, N.Y.) U.S. photographer. He learned to make daguerreotypes from Samuel F.B. Morse. In 1844 he opened the first of two studios in New York City and began photographing famous people (including Daniel Webster, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry Clay). In 1847 Brady opened a studio in Washington, D.C., and there created, copied, and collected portraits of U.S. presidents. He achieved international fame with A Gallery of Illustrious Americans (1850). In 1861 he set out to make a complete record of the American Civil War with a staff of more than 20 photographers, including Timothy H. O'Sullivan and Alexander Gardner. He probably photographed the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg himself.