Evening star., 1954-06-06
First Of Tive Articles.

recognizing CLS 1L0pOT GdIlCS VI
photography to our way Of life.
commenced the collection Of
specimens Of historical and
chronological importance, that
has since reached the proper
tions of over $4,000 items
which form: the national
Photographic collection. The
work of Smillie was continued
by his successor. DR.. A. j.
Olmsted, the previous curator
Of the Section Of Photography
and Is continuing under the
direction Of the writer.
Through the intervening
years there has been assembled
an impressive group OF his
torical objects which represent
the development of the camera
and the Photographic proc
esses over q period Of many
centuries. These have been or
ganized into two separate but
closely related categories-the
permanent exhibits and the
reference collection. It being
apparent that space limita-
tions would preclude the exhi-
bition Of all Of the historical
material, 1t was decided to
store all but those items Of
the greatest significance in a
way to make them easily acces-
sible to the public.
Tell Chronological Story
The balance Of the material
has been installed during the
past year in newly designed
exhibition displays on the
northwest gallery of the
Smithsonian's Arts and Indus
tries building, Ninth street and
jefferson drive S.W. They have
been arranged to tell the story
Of photography in chronolog-
ical order from the time OF the
ancients to the present.
Now it is still a popular con-
ception that photography came
about as the invention of one
man. Actually it gradually
evolved over. the centuries with
the camera in being for hun
dreds of years before a salts
factory chemical process was
discovered to record the image.
AS far back as the time OF
Euclid men understood the
theory of the camera. BY
chance it was observed that a
ray of light penetrating a
darkened room would cast the
image of an outside object on
the wall opposite the opening.
Thus, in its original form, the
camera was the size Of room
and so gained the name of
camera obscura-dark room.
Originally the camera obscura
was used as g. means for OBJ
serving astronomical phenom-
ma. Later, men traced the
images cast by the incoming
light and the instrument was
used extensively as an aid to
artists who delighted in repro
ducing the Landscapes cap
tured by the camera obscura.
Lens Introduced
BY 1889, when the photo
chemical process was per-
fected, the camera obscura
had shrunk in size and Its
name shortened to camera.
AS Is shown in the exhibits,
the camera had sprouted a
lens by this time, and 1t was
adapted to Photographic re-
production of the image by
simply placing a holder for
the light sensitive plate at the
place where the image was
formed by the concentration
Of light rays.
On display are three of the
earliest Photographic cameras.
One Is that of William Henry
Fox Talbot, the Englishman
who perfected a negative
positive Photographic process
at about the same time that
the Frenchman L. j. M. Da-
guerre introduced the famed
daguerreotype process. The
other two 1889 cameras are
the first two made in the
United States and, notably, are
not too unlike, in appearance
and performance, the box
cameras that can be pur-
chased at any camera store
today.
Slowness of Emulsions
The great drawback to
photography. in its early days,
was the extreme slownesS of
the Photographic emulsions.
This meant that exposures
sometimes took minutes or, in
any event. many seconds. In
the exhibition area will be
found information showing
the gradual evolution of the
Photographic process from a
tediously time consuming op-
Grafton, which neceSsitated
the use of wet and messy glass
plates. through the inter-
mediate step of dry-plate
photography. to the modern
flexible film of high speed
Sensitivity.
Supporting these exhibits
are numerous examples Of the
cameras, plates, prints, dark
room equipment and materials.
and so forth, that contributed
to the advancement of photog-
raphy. A notable example of
the huge and unwieldly equip
ment needed to make enlarge
ments is solar enlarger of the