Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes

More than any other type of photographic image, from the moment of their
invention, daguerreotypes were widely perceived as perfect reflections of reality.
Daguerreotypes learned people to see the world photographically for the very first
time, and still today we often regard them with a similar sense of wonder.
We are attracted by their captivating beauty and their extraordinary high definition
that make them almost seem to be magical windows, opening up a vista directly into
our past. Thus they appear to be “time capsules”, in the words of one enthusiastic
collector.
Universal recognition of daguerreotypes as unique and valuable artefacts has made
it urgently necessary not only to preserve them from the ravages of time but also
to explore and develop more thoroughly the great range and variety of cultural
studies that these images can offer us today.
The desire to share our passion for the daguerreotype was the main motivation
for founding this free online publication, which is dedicated to words and images
concerning the aesthetics, the science, the history and the art of creating
daguerreotype images, in the past as well as now. We very much hope that you will
enjoy it!
We wish to thank the European Union for their important financial contribution
to the Daguerreotype Journal, a publication that has been launched in connection
with the Daguerreobase Project.
To view a selection of daguerreotype pictures that are currently conserved in various
important European public institutions and private collections please click on the
following link: www.daguerreobase.org

With Courtesy of daguerreobase.org