Brazos Past: Photographers of Waco's past
By Terri Jo RyanSpecial to the Tribune-Herald
Some of Waco’s most famous shutterbugs of local history have been male — names like Fred A. Gildersleeve, J.C. Deane, W.D. Jackson and Fayette W. Knight.
But a handful of pioneer women made their mark in the photographic arts: According to Texas historians, more than 100 woman photographers were working in the state before 1900. Some were independent entrepreneurs, while some were assisting husbands or fathers in their enterprises.
Photography was one of the few 19th-century professions that was considered socially acceptable — with such traditional occupations as nursing and teaching school — when and if a woman had to work. But the cumbersome equipment and chemical process, especially in the early days of photography, made for smelly and hazardous work — not every woman’s “cup of tea,” to be sure.
The first documented female photographer in Texas was a “Mrs. Davis” (first name unknown), who advertised her photographic services in Houston newspapers in December 1843 (only seven years after the Texas Revolution).
Although she likely was among the first people to produce a photograph in the Lone Star State, none of her work is known to exist. But dozens of itinerant daguerreotypists followed her to Texas to make their fortunes, adopting the same marketing plan of advertising in the local periodicals and inviting patrons to come to their temporary studios to have their portraits struck.
Sources: Handbook of Texas Online, Catching Shadows: A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993).
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