Selected Bibliography - Mathew Brady

Josephine Cobb was the Archivist-in-charge of the Still Picture Branch at the National Archives. Her article provides a scholarly account of Brady's Washington, DC, photographic studio.

Hobart, George. Mathew Brady. London: Macdonald & Co., 1984.
Call number: TR140.B7 H58 1984

Hoobler, Dorothy, and Hoobler, Thomas. Photographing History: The Career of Mathew Brady. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1977.
Call number: TR140.B7H59 1977

Horan, James D. Mathew Brady: Historian with a Camera. New York: Crown Publishers, 1955.
Call number: TR140.B7 H6 [P&P Ref]

Soon after the Library acquired the Brady-Handy Collection, Horan was given special access to the negatives for the purpose of writing a definitive biography of Brady. The biography is followed by 453 illustrations and a list of Brady photographs published by Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Harper's Weekly.

Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve, and Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr. Mathew Brady and His World. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1977. Call number: TR140.B7 K8 [P&P Ref]

Based on the Brady collection of Frederick Hill Meserve and written by Meserve's granddaughter and great-grandson in consultation with Josephine Cobb. In addition to many Brady portraits, the publication is also illustrated with a page from Brady's carte de visite sample book, and examples showing how Brady's negatives were prepared for printing by masking or retouching.

Meredith, Roy. Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man: Mathew B. Brady. 2nd revised edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1974. Call number: TR140.B7 M4 1974 [P&P Ref]

Originally published in 1946, this early biography of Brady has been superceded by later scholarship. Contains many illustrations.

-----. Mathew Brady's Portrait of an Era. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1982.
Call number: E415.7 .M47 1982

Milhollen, Hirst D. "The Mathew B. Brady Collection." In A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1980, pp. 30-37.
Call number: TR6.U62 D572 [P&P Ref]

Originally published in the April, May, June 1944 issue of the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress to announce the acquisition of the Anthony-Taylor-Rand-Ordway-Eaton Collection of Mathew Brady negatives.

-----. "The Brady-Handy Collection." In A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1980, pp. 38-50.
Call number: TR6.U62 D572 [P&P Ref]

Originally published in the May 1956 issue of the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress to announce the acquisition of the Brady-Handy Collection. Contains a comprehensive list of all of the Brady-Handy negative series.

Panzer, Mary. Mathew Brady. London and New York: Phaidon, 2001.
Call number: TR652 .P36 2001

A picture book [best characterization?] that contains 56 plates accompanied by descriptive captions. Concise biography of Brady and chronology of his life.

-----. Mathew Brady and the Image of History. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery, 1997.
Call number: TR140.B7 P36 1997

The most recent scholarship on Mathew Brady. The publication accompanied an exhibition organized by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery that traveled to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and the International Center of Photography in New York City. Since few facts are known about Brady's life, Panzer informs the reader about New York City in the mid-1800s and the influential people who visited Brady's studio. Includes 79 plates with biographical information about the sitters, a comprehensive chronology of Mathew Brady's life, and a section devoted to reprints of historical articles about Brady and his studio.

Sullivan, George. Mathew Brady; His Life and Photographs. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1994.
Call number: TR140.B7 S85 1994 [P&P Ref]

Written for adolescents, this biography weaves the history of the early photographic processes with Brady's career as a photographer. Heavily illustrated with portraits of Brady, views of his studios, and photographs made by the Brady studio.