Brady, Mathew

Mathew B. Brady (ca. 1823 - 1896) was a pioneer photojournalist, most famous for documenting the Civil War. Brady was born in New York to parents who had immigrated from Ireland. He studied photography under Samuel F. B. Morse, who had introduced photography to America. He opened a photography studio in New York in 1845, and in 1849 he moved to Washington, D.C. and opened a studio there, where he photographed several U. S. presidents and many politicians. During the Civil War he trained and employed 23 men to travel and photograph the events of the war; he also took many portraits of both Union and Confederate army officers. After the war, the popularity of Brady's images declined drastically and he was forced into bankruptcy, although in 1875 Congress purchased his negatives for $25,000. He died in 1896 and was buried in Washington, D.C.

From the guide to the Mathew Brady Photographs, ca. 1860s AR 93-277; AR 2011-351., (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)