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Few persons are aware of the extent to which this art is practiced, or how deeply it has interwoven itself with all social habits. From being an article of luxury the simple photograph has become by its inherent attractiveness and usefulness, one of the necessities of civilized life. It can be produced so cheaply that the very poorest can patronize it, and its best production so nearly approach works of high art as to make it welcome with those who value it only for its intrinsic merit. It therefore adapts itself to all the varying means and conditions of a society, and its cultivators find in every civilized community a means of obtaining an honorable livelihood. Granted that, as an artist, the photographer occupies a very humble position in the eyes of the public, yet the fact remains that not only in our large cities are there to be found prosperous photographic establishments, but our smaller towns also support them, and few large villages even exist but some adept in the art ekes out his means, if he does not entirely support himself by it. Nothing can, therefore, better prove how exactly adapted this singular art to meet a craving want of our common nature. In the smallest communities, long before the penny newspaper has arisen, or the railway station has made its appearance, the photographer will have established himself a “local habitation and a name.”

Jabez Hughes, “Photography as an Industrial Occupation for Women” Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin No. 4 (1873) 162-166

February 24, 2007 10:55 PM