Learn about your antiques and collectibles with Georgia Caraway

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, a Parisian artist known for his elaborate dioramas, had been experimenting with the camera obscura for a number of years when, in 1833, he stumbled on the process that would make him famous [The camera obscura was a dark chamber into which light was admitted first by a pinhole or other tiny opening and, later, through a convex lens to produce on a surface opposite it an inverted image of some exterior scene ] Serendipitously a thermometer happened to break where Daguerre was working, and to his delight, the leaking mercury vapor produced an image on a nearby photographic plate Soon the entrepreneur perfected the daguerreotype, and in 1839 sold his process to the French government, who then presented it to the world no patent required. One month later, daguerreotype studios were opening in New York City and in the capitals of Europe.

About the same time, William Henry Fox Talbot, an Englishman, created a positive image on paper from a negative print he called Calotype (Talbotype) It didn’t catch on, because daguerreotypes were much clearer and required no license to operate

Americans flocked to pose at daguerreotype studios, and braved the discomfort of exposure times of 10 minutes with the subject’s heads being restrained by a brace Daguerreotypes were housed in embossed and attractive little cases made of pressed paper, various composition materials, or gutta-percha If you tilt it from side to side you will see a mirror-like reflection. Often there is silver tarnish around the edges.

Ambrotype (after the Greek word for immortal, ambrotos) inventor F. Scott Archer developed his process in 1854 by producing a negative

Americans flocked to pose at daguerreotype studios, and braved the discomfort of exposure times of 10 minutes with the subject’s heads being restrained by a brace Daguerreotypes were housed in embossed and attractive little cases made of pressed paper, various composition materials, or gutta-percha If you tilt it from side to side you will see a mirror-like reflection Often there is silver tarnish around the edges

Ambrotype (after the Greek word for immortal, ambrotos) inventor F Scott Archer developed his process in 1854 by producing a negative image on a glass plate that was visible when backed with black paper or paint.

Tintypes (example shown in photo) that made their appearance in 1856 were also called ferrotypes. They are negative images printed on a metal plate, which appears positive due to an undercoating of black Japan varnish It was a cheaper, less fragile image on tin Thousands of young men on their way to Civil War battlefields stopped to have a twenty-five-cent tintype taken Miniature tintypes were called “gems ”

The collodian-wet-plate process allowed photographers to produce inexpensive copies from a single negative

Cyanotypes (after the Greek word for blue) were glass negatives that printed blue and could be made on any surface (even a pillowcase)

Cartes de visite, or CDVs, were photographs that featured a portrait on one side and the photographer’s name on the other. Smaller photographs printed on calling cards, were also called CDVs.

In 1863, the Windsor and Bridge Studio of

London introduced a new type of photograph that measured 4x5.5 inches and was pasted on a cardboard mounting Victorians mounted these larger photos in glass cabinets, thus their name, cabinet cards

Dr Georgia Caraway, former director of the Denton County Museums for 14 years, will be opening the Howe Mercantile on April 25 She has also written Tips, Tools, & Techniques: Caring for Your Antiques and Collectibles and four Denton history books Watch for the Clearance Sale at 107 East Haning March 6 and 7

Family Math Game Night at Elementary School

Howe Elementary School Principal Darla Williams has announced that the school will have another Family Match Game Night. This event will take place on Tuesday evening from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Howe Elementary/Middle School Cafeteria.

Howe