Civil War Photography

Civil War Photography

Civil War Photography
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 7 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.56

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		darkroom, tintype, bankrupt, penniless, photography, reality, solution, market, credit, studio, photo, remembrance, battlefield, trade, actual, natural
	content words:		Civil War, Mathew B., New York City, Samuel Morse, United States, Tim O'Sullivan, United States Congress

Print Civil War Photography

Print Civil War Photography (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format

	Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
	Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format

Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity

Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Civil War Photography

Leave your feedback on Civil War Photography (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Civil War Photography
By Mary L. Bushong

¹     Do you have a photo album? They are common now, and most people have some kind of camera. Perhaps you have a camera of your own, or even a digital camera. You probably find it easy to take your own pictures. It was not always that way. During the Civil War it was still a very complicated process known only to a few.

²     Perhaps the best known of the early photographers was Mathew B. Brady. He arrived in New York City when he was 16 and worked as store clerk. In his spare time, he studied photography under Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse code and the man who introduced photography to the United States. Brady found he had a natural talent for it. It was not long before he had his own photography studio.

³     At the highest point of his career, he became interested in taking pictures of Civil War action. He did not want to just go and take some snap shots, he wanted to document as much of it as possible.

⁴     In order to do this, Brady enlisted many young photographers as apprentices. Since they were working for him, he got credit for all of the pictures they took. The men would often work in pairs, driving a two-horse enclosed wagon. The men would arrive at an army camp and start to work. They did not just take pictures; they also had to process their own work right there.

Paragraphs 5 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

Copyright © 2009 edHelper