Schoolmaster Hill Tobogganing, Franklin Park, Roxbury, Massachusetts. Cyanotype. 1905.

In the beginning, photography was largely a specialists’ medium, the domain of a few inventors and commercial studios. Although the daguerreotype required a high level of expertise, the process made the medium accessible to a wider range of enthusiasts. The works on view at the Met have a remarkable depth and presence, and their handsome presentation emphasizes their appeal as keepsakes. Not everyone could make a daguerreotype, but nearly everyone could own one. By the turn of the century, photography had found a proud, comfortable place in the American home.

Winter on the Common, Boston. Salted paper print from glass negative, 1850s.Photograph by Josiah Johnson Hawes

A group of people near a lake. Group on Petria, Lake Mahopac. Albumen silver print from glass negative. August 9, 1888. Photograph by Alice Austen