Daguerreotype and Tintype collection

Daguerreotypes were in production from the late 1830s into the early 1860s. This photographic format is considered to be the first method that resulted in images that could be made widely available to the public due to the relative simplicity of the process and high quality of the images produced. The resulting images were typically encased and brought photography into the general public marketplace. Tintypes were in production from the late 1850s into the early 1900s. This format (also known as a ferrotype) was invented in the United Sates by Hamilton L. Smith in 1856. The process by which the images were developed was based on the "wet collodion" process used to produce ambrotypes. The process was quick and cheap, when compared to ambrotypes, and was extremely popular from 1856 till they fell out of use in the early 1900s.