For those interested in historic photographs, highlights of the year are the photographic shows, including Paris Photo, AIPAD, and the Daguerreian Society Annual Symposium and Trade Fair.
This year the 35th Daguerreian Society Symposium was held October 27-30 at the Palmer House in Chicago. The event began with behind-the-scenes tours of the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Historical Museum and Newberry Library. Each institution brought out amazing examples from their extensive holdings of 19th century photographs for those lucky enough to get one of the reservations for the small group tours.
The Thursday evening Symposium reception was hosted on a twilight Chicago River cruise, followed by “room-hopping” as collectors and dealers stopped by to see old friends, make new ones, share images and stories, and acquire new photographs before the trade show and auction opening.
Friday the lecture series program included seven sessions:
Grant Romer: The Light Daguerre Saw in the Dark
David R. Hanlon: First Light: The Pioneering Photographs of Leavitt Hunt & Nathan Baker-Keith Davis: George N. Barnard
Liz Siegel: Hugh Edwards and Nineteenth Century Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago
Martin Last and Sandra Petrillo: The Wegman Daguerreotypes: Discovery and Conservation of Rare Swiss Daguerreotypes
David Holcomb: Sports Photography 1843 – 1900
Liliana Shortridge: New Teenage Collector
Several of the lectures will be available as part of the Daguerreian Society Talk Series on Saturdays in the future.
The initial focus on Saturday was the annual trade fair with over 50 tables of collectors and dealers offering historic photographs for sale. Dealers came to the event in Chicago from Argentina, England, Paris, Canada, and across the U. S.
Saturday evening was the annual banquet and awards, followed by the online and in-person auction.
Over 110 collectors attended the symposium and most went home with great memories of the event and new images for their collections. The venue for next year is still to be decided. Candidates include Rochester, Boston and Washington, D. C.
You can view a PBS Chicago video about the Symposium entitled “Daguerreian Society Aims to Preserve Oldest Photography Forms” here.
Some Highlights from the Daguerreian Society Auction
(live in-person and online courtesy Cowan’s and Live Auctioneer)
Jeremy Rowe
Contributing Writer
Jeremy Rowe has collected researched and written about historic photography for over 30 years. His collecting has focused on 19th and early 20th century photographs – ranging from daguerreotypes and cased images to mounted photographs, real photo postcards, and vernacular images with an emphasis on Arizona and the Southwest, Lower Manhattan, and the open-ended category of “images that strike me.”
Jeremy has curated exhibitions and served on the boards of the Daguerreian Society, National Stereoscopic Association, Daniel Nagrin Film, Theater and Dance Foundation, In Focus, and Ephemera Society of America. Jeremy is currently working with the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs to establish a National Stereoscopic Research Collection and Research Fellowship.
Jeremy has written numerous publications about historic photography, including Arizona Photographers 1865 – 1920 a History and Directory, Arizona Real Photo Postcards a History and Portfolio, and Arizona Stereographs 1865- 1930.
Jeremy has three degrees from Arizona State University and is an Emeritus Professor. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at New York University and travels between New York City and Arizona.