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a major centre and the patron would receive the fi nished
item upon the itinerant’s next visit. Newspaper articles
often pointed out that several months passed before
receiving a “favourable likeness of one’s deceased.”
Some itinerants managed to have their darkroom work
done at a studio in the region they visited but local
operators often resented them because they naturally
competed for business. Itinerants paid no rent or utility
costs, and could undercut prices charged by established
studios. Thus most chose to set up at the town’s edge, in
the open air. Grass became the studio fl oor and carpet.
The image often “captured” patterned fabric or painted
backdrops, were often blurred by breezes. The intent was
to quickly take a picture and produce several copies thus
reducing labour and increasing profi t. For pennies more,
patrons could have images housed in cheap, white-metal,
clasped jewelry or encased.
So as not to be burden with extra weight, itinerant
photographs cleverly made use of materials at visiting
sites. Carded or framed tintypes were often backed
with cuttings from local newspapers. Photographs were
mounted on a card support imprinted with the photog-
rapher’s particular trade design, locale, etc. Some were
intricately printed and embossed; others were simply
rubber-stamped onto the cards. These individualistic
markings or ‘imprints’ provided clues to the photogra-
phers work. One photographer promoted his work as the
“soldier’s headquarter” as he traveled closest to war torn
areas; others heralded themselves as the “ranchman’s
photographer” thus indicating their expertise. Sure to
please was the notation “Photographer to the People.”
Itinerant photographers, compared to studios, often
chose not to protect their work. There were however,
examples of subtle symbols or disguised words found
on certain Canadian itinerant photography which can
be traced to later copied works by other itinerant and
studio photographers.
With the advent of truly portable and affordable
cameras, the growing interests of travelling camera
clubs, and of “snapshooters,” the itinerant photographer
became a dwindling reality by the early 1900s. Many
would fashion themselves into street photographers,
where it was the ‘itinerant’ customer who would ap-
proach the photographer and pose for a souvenir image.
Possibly the last vestige of itinerant photography was
a 1907 patent and detailed drawing, by Frankfort, Ger-
many, photographer Jean Schmidt, of a travelling elec-
tric studio car. Unfortunately his travels were dictated
by that city’s and neighbouring communities’ limited
overhead trolley lines.
Phillipe MauriceSee also: Lemercier, Lerebours & Bareswill; Fenton,
Roger; Archer, Fredrick Scott; Wet Collodion Positive
Processes; and Tintype (Ferrotype, Melainotype).IVES, FREDERIC(K) EUGENE
Further Reading
Coe, Brian, The Birth of Photography, London: Ash & Grant
Ltd., 1976.
Coe, Brian and Mark Haworth-Booth, A Guide to Early Photo-
graphic Processes, London: Hurtwood Press, 1983.
Estabrook, Edward M., The Ferrotype and How to Make It [1872],
Hastings-on-Hudson: Morgan & Morgan, 1972 facsimile.
Figuier, Louis, La Photographie. Merveilles de la Science, Mar-
seille: Laffi tte Reprints, 1983 facsimile.
Gilbert, George, Photography: The Early Years. A Historical
Guide for Collectors, New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
Hardwich, T. Frederick, A Manual of Photographic Chemistry
Including the Practice of the Collodion Processes, England,
1856? Or 57?
Jenkins, Reese V., Images and Enterprise. Technology and the
American Photographic Industry 1839 to 1925, Baltimore,
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Maurice, Philippe, Catching the Sun: A Catalogue of Photography
Studio & Photographica Advertisements & Notices published
in Prairie Canada between 1850 and 1900 [photographic
compilations 1850–1900] vol. 1, vol. 2, Calgary, Philmsearch,
1996, 1998.
Maurice, Philippe, “Snippets of History: The Tintype and Prai-
rie Canada,” in Material History Review, Ottawa, Canada:
National Museum of Science & Technology, vol. 41, 1995,
39–56.
Welling, William, Photography in America: The Formative
Years 1839–1900, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico
Press, 1987.IVES, FREDERIC(K) EUGENE
(1856–1937)
American scientist and physicist
Ives was born in 1856 and is known for his pioneering
work in photo-mechanical reproduction in both black-
and-white and color as well as his early three-color
additive photography. Ives is the inventor of photoen-
graving (halftone block engraving) as we know it today.
In 1878 he started to commercially produce screens for
the halftone printing process in Philadelphia. Earlier
it was not possible to print different gray levels, only
black and white could be printed. When working at
Cornell University, Ives invented a screen that would
convert a photograph or drawing into a pattern of tiny
dots—large dots forming where the image was dark
and tiny dots where the image was light—giving the
illusion of shades of gray. An original photograph to
be printed had to be re-photographed through Ives’
screen. In this way a halftone was obtained which was
then engraved onto a metal plate from which the image
could be cheaply and quickly printed on paper. Ives’
fi rst halftone process, patented in 1878, consisted of
a gelatin relief which was cast in pure white alabaster
plaster and brought in contact with an indiarubber sheet
covered with pyramidale raised points or lines which
had been inked. According to the amount of relief on the
cast the rubber points were more or less spread out andHannavy_RT72353_C009.indd 761 7/5/2007 11:33:45 AM