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...
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.
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...
New York Times
New York Times: An in Depth History of Group F.64
This article is based on a book by Mary Street Alinder, who had worked with Anselm Adams. Group f.64 was a group of photographers in the 1930s who advocated for a pure style of photography.
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...
Other
History and Discovery of Cinematography
Self-published textbook, by film historian Paul Burns, on the history of filmmaking. Covers pre-cinematic technologies and events and ends with the discovery of motion pictures in the late nineteenth century.
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...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Photography and Truth
Photography plays an essential role in anthropology. Draw from these materials to assist in illustrating this role.
Curated OER
History Matters: Making Sense of Documentary Photography
A great guide to making sense of documentary photography. Learn ways to distinguish between early and modern photos, where the photo was taken, and how the photo was presented.
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.
Other
The Kodak Girl Collection
A delightful salute to women in photography. Includes history and archival photographs.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Native American History
These six extensive collections provide first-person historical accounts, audio clips of music and thousands of photographs from Native American cultures. Audio requires Windows Media Player for PCs, and QuickTime for Mac.
Other
An Exploration of Historic Prejudice: Italian Digital Photo Album
This photo album shows the Italians as they lived in the Kootenays in Victorian days. They are seen here building the CPR, mining and going about their lives.
Other
Erwin E. Smith, Cowboy Photographer (Teaching Guide)
This guide provides a sampling of the vast number of photographs taken by Erwin E. Smith (1884?1947). It is designed for use with fourth through seventh grade students and places particular emphasis on social studies and Texas history....
Other
Digital Imaging in Education
This resource is a 15-page PDF that gives a good history of the shift from film to digital photography and applications for digital imaging in the classroom. Included are nine lesson plans which include project ideas, guidelines for...
A&E Television
History.com: How Photos From the Battle of Antietam Revealed the American Civil War's Horrors
In October 1862, a shocking and unique photo exhibition opened at Mathew B. Brady's Broadway gallery in New York City. A small placard at the door advertised "The Dead of Antietam," and, as The New York Times reported on October 20,...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Timothy O'sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Canon De Chelle
View photographs and read about the historical works of Timothy O'Sullivan in this essay.
George Eastman Museum
Photographs of the Great Depression
These images walk a fine line between documentary photography and propaganda. Nonetheless, they tell a story of a dark period in American history.
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.
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Child Labor in America
Historical photographs provide students with a firsthand look at the issue of child labor during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In this lesson plan, students will use photographs to further understanding of the...
Other
Museum of the Moving Image: Optical Room
Take a tour through the history of moving images from the earliest times into the mid-1910s. The tour begins with pre-cinema devices and practices, including shadow plays and optical toys, and covers film and photography pioneers and...
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...
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...