Daguerreotype of Baltimore Street Scene

Fitz, Henry Jr. · 1840-1844

This sixth-plate daguerreotype of a Baltimore, Maryland,street scene, circa 1840-1844, was made by Henry Fitz, Jr., one of the first American photographers. Fitz established a daguerreian studio in Baltimore, Maryland, in the summer of 1840. Fitz collaborated with New York photographer Alexander Wolcott to perfect a modified camera with concave reflecting mirror at a 45 degree angle to the lens in order to make daguerreotype images true to life, not reversed as was the case in most photographs of the era.