Wilhelm Langenheim

Wilhelm Langenheim, colored photograph (around 1849), Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ernst Wilhelm Langenheim ( February 23, 1807 in Braunschweig - May 4, 1874 in Philadelphia ) was a German photographer.

Life

Wilhelm Langenheim was born in Braunschweig. After studying law in Göttingen, he began working as a lawyer in Braunschweig. In 1834 he emigrated to America and ended up in Baltimore . From New York he went to southern Texas . Here he joined the Texan troops in the Texan War of Independence in 1835 fighting the Mexicans. He fought in the militant corps of Colonels James Grant (1793-1836) and Francis White Johnson (1799-1884) in the campaign to Matamoros in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas . During a battle he was captured by the Mexican people, and his fellow combatant Gustav Bunsen was killed. He was released after ten months of imprisonment; in the Second Seminole War he joined the 2nd Dragoon Regiment as assistant to the quartermaster in 1837 fighting the Seminoles .

In May 1840 Wilhelm Langenheim came to Philadelphia , where his brother Friedrich had recently lived. From July 1841 to November 1842 Wilhelm Langenheim was editor of the weekly German-language newspaper Die Alte und Neue Welt in Philadelphia . This magazine was the press organ of the German settlement company Philadelphia . At that time, Franz Schreiber was active in the company. In 1843 Franz Schreiber was their publisher .

In 1843 Friedrich and Wilhelm Langenheim had opened their atelier for daguerreotypes under the company "W. & F. Langenheim" in the Merchants' Exchange Building in Philadelphia . Wilhelm was responsible for the administrative things. Alexander Beckers joined them in 1843, but left the studio in the spring of 1844 to make daguerreotypes in Edward White's shop with a Voigtlander camera. Edward White ran a materials ( plates , chemicals) store for daguerreotypists on Broadway in New York . In December 1844 Beckers gave up his activity there in order to run his own studio. A few months later, in May 1845, Beckers opened the agency “Langenheim & Beckers” with Friedrich Langenheim on Broadway 201 as a dealer for Voigtlander cameras and lenses . The joint venture lasted until 1848.

It is not exactly clear how the connection between Langenheim and Voigtländer came about. In general, America was very interested in the latest findings in Europe. Presumably from 1844, Franz Schreiber worked in the studio and learned to daguerreotype.

Envelope with advertising, ca.1840

In 1848 Langenheim convinced William Fox Talbot to sell licenses for the production of calotypes in America . Langenheim had hoped that this process, which made correct-sided and repeatable prints possible, would offer considerable advantages over the daguerreotype. Langenheim was wrong in his assessment and could not sell a single license.

In the following years, the Langenheims began developing light images that could be projected with a magic lantern . This led to a great business success. At the industrial exhibition in London in 1851, briefly referred to as the Great Exhibition , the brothers presented their patent. The well-known architect Gottfried Semper also visited the exhibition. He said:

"It (reference: the diaphanical application) will perhaps be the most lasting of all that have so far been made by Daguerre's invention and that are important in architecture."

- Gottfried Semper

In 1851 the brothers began working with the psychiatrist Thomas S. Kirkbride (1809-1883) in his clinic. Kirkbride had used magic lantern demonstrations as part of his therapeutic efforts since 1844. The use of photographs from Langenheim from 1851 was epoch-making and marked the first public projection of photographs outside a studio. On May 26, 1854, they probably took the first pictures (daguerreotypes) of a solar eclipse in America. Alexander Beckers patented a viewing device for the photographs in 1859. Almost at the same time they developed stereo photographs , which were sold with success.

swell

Letters to Fox Talbot : Search the Letters. In: The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot. De Monfort University, Leicester, University of Glasgow, accessed September 14, 2017 .

literature

Carsten Grabenhorst: Voigtländer & Sohn - The company history from 1756 to 1914, Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig, 2002 ISBN 978-3-930292-25-7 , ( online ).
6. Innovations from Philadelphia . In: Beaumont Newhall : The Daguerreotype in America , Dover, NY 1975, pp. 49f., Digitized .
C [arl] F [riedrich] Yikes: Wilhelm Langenheim . In: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Pioneers-Verein von Philadelphia , Issue 22, 1911, pp. 24f., Online
Julius F. [Friedrich] Sachse: Philadelphia's Share in the Development of Photography . In: Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts , April 1893 PDF
George F. Schreiber . (Nekrolog) In: Anthony's photographic bulletin . v. 23, 1892, p. 56f.
Obituary. George F. Schreiber , In: Photographic Times , Vol. 22, 1892, pp. 26-27.
Charles Ehrmann : George Francis Schreiber . A reminiscence. In: Photographic Times , Vol. 22, 1892, pp. 40-41.
Charles Ehrmann: Correspondence. George Francis clerk . In: Photographic Times , Vol. 22, 1892, pp. 57-58.
Alexander Beckers: My Daguerreotype Experience . In: Anthony's Photographic Bulletin , Vol. 20, 1889, pp. 209f.
Alexander Beckers: Fifteen Year's Experience of a Daguerreotyper . In: Anthony's Photographic Bulletin , Vol. 20, 1889, pp. 144f. Published under the same heading in: The Photographic Times an American Photographer , Vol. XIX, Licoln Adams, New York, 1889, pp. 131f.
Wilhelm Langenheim , in: Chapter 18 The Southern States. In: Gustav Körner : The German element in the United States of America 1818–1845 , 2nd edition, E. Steiger & Co., New York, 1884, pp. 361–362 online
Obituary. (Nekrolog) In Editor's Table . In: The Philadelphia Photographer , XI., Benerman & Wilson, Philadelphia 1874, p. 185 and p. 190.

References and comments

↑ In The German Element in the United States of North America 1818–1845, the author Gustav Körner names Braunschweig as “his hometown”. Schöningen , which is about 40 km from Braunschweig in a south-easterly direction, is also an option as the city of birth . The presumed father Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim can be proven there. He had been appointed auditor at Schöningen in 1800 (source: NLA WO 4 Alt 1 No. 841). When Schöningen belonged to the Helmstedt district of the Kingdom of Westphalia during the French occupation , his father worked there as a canton mayor (district mayor) and notary from 1808–1813. After the occupation ended, Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim (1816?) Settled in Braunschweig as a lawyer and notary. The data can be derived from files in the Lower Saxony archive information system ( Arcinsys ).

^ CF Huch: Wilhelm Langenheim . In: Announcements of the German Pioneer Association of Philadelphia .

^ In Georg Fein's estate (NLA WO 211 N) there is a travel description from New Orleans to New Braunfels .

↑ Herbert Jacob (Ed.): Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources of Karl Goedeke , 2nd ed., XV. Vol., Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-05-005237-3 , p. 540.

^ William Beck: The German Settlement Society of Philadelphia and its Colony Hermann, Missouri . Americana Germanica Press, Philadelphia, 1907, p. 107.

↑ OCLC : 32814464 .

↑ Of the life dates of Alexander Becker, only the year of death 1905 is known.

↑ In a 1845 published ads Edward White referred to as single agent for the lenses of Voigtlander (Source: Sheldon & Cos, Business or Advertising Directory John F. Throw, New York 1845, p 43.).

↑ Alexander Beckers: Fifteen Year's Experience of a Daguerreotyper .

↑ There are family relationships. Voigtländer had used a nanny in 1845. Zinken (1813–1902) married, whose father was Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim. The mentioned “student friend Johann Bernhard Schneider” is said to have been a brother-in-law of Voigtlander (see: 6. Innovations from Philadelphia . In: Beaumont Newhall :), (husband of L (o) uise Langenheim). Schneider was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig from 1836 to 1854 , then until his retirement in 1882 Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Saxon Polytechnic in Dresden. (Source: Mention of Johann Bernhard Schneider in Nekrolog for the year 1883. In: Yearbook of inventions and advances in the fields of physics, chemistry and chemical technology, astronomy and meteorology , Vol. 20, Leipzig 1884, p. 412 online ) .

↑ § 66 Painted and Decorated Glass. In: Official report on the Industrial Exhibition of All Nations in London in 1851 . Third and last part, Deckersche Hofdruckerei, Berlin 1853, p. 339 digitized .

^ Science and Art , Friedrich Vieweg, Braunschweig 1852, p. 75, digitized

↑ George S. Layne: The Kirkbride-Langenheim collaboration: early use of photography in psychiatric treatment in Philadelphia. In: Pennsylvania Magazine Hist. Biogr. 105 (1981) pp. 182-202 Digitalisat . Over 3,500 glass projection images have been preserved in the Pennsylvania Hospital archives.

^ Eclipse of the Sun. In: Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art , accessed September 18, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Langenheim - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Anthony's Photographic Bulletin - Sources and Full Texts

Wikisource: The Photographic times - Sources and full texts

Wilhelm Lange Home in the database of Find a Grave (English)
William and Frederik Langenheim. In: Librarium. Historic Camera, accessed September 14, 2017 .
Markus Haage: Exhibition about the Langenheim family in the Heimatmuseum. Markus Haage, July 7, 2012, accessed on September 18, 2017 .
Illustrations:
- Eastman Museum, Collections Online. Retrieved on September 14, 2017 (English, entry of "Langenheim" in ADVANCED SEARCH required).
- The Library Company of Philadelphia, Search Collections. Retrieved on September 14, 2017 (English, entry of "Langenheim" required).
- Exhibition from September 28, 2009 to February 26, 2010. Accessed on September 14, 2017 (English).
- Getty Museum, Collection Photographs. Retrieved September 14, 2017 (English).
- Alex di Giovanni: Deconstructing a Mystery: Rare photo proves to be the earliest ever taken of the Smithsonian Castle. In: The Bigger Picture. Smithsonian Institution Archives, August 15, 2015, accessed September 18, 2017 .

personal data
SURNAME	Langenheim, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Langenheim, Ernst Wilhelm (full name); Langenheim, William (English)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German-American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH	February 23, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH	Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH	May 4, 1874
Place of death	Philadelphia

[1] In The German Element in the United States of North America 1818–1845, the author Gustav Körner names Braunschweig as “his hometown”. Schöningen , which is about 40 km from Braunschweig in a south-easterly direction, is also an option as the city of birth . The presumed father Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim can be proven there. He had been appointed auditor at Schöningen in 1800 (source: NLA WO 4 Alt 1 No. 841). When Schöningen belonged to the Helmstedt district of the Kingdom of Westphalia during the French occupation , his father worked there as a canton mayor (district mayor) and notary from 1808–1813. After the occupation ended, Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim (1816?) Settled in Braunschweig as a lawyer and notary. The data can be derived from files in the Lower Saxony archive information system ( Arcinsys ).

[2] CF Huch: Wilhelm Langenheim . In: Announcements of the German Pioneer Association of Philadelphia .

[3] In Georg Fein's estate (NLA WO 211 N) there is a travel description from New Orleans to New Braunfels .

[4] Herbert Jacob (Ed.): Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources of Karl Goedeke , 2nd ed., XV. Vol., Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-05-005237-3 , p. 540.

[5] William Beck: The German Settlement Society of Philadelphia and its Colony Hermann, Missouri . Americana Germanica Press, Philadelphia, 1907, p. 107.

[6] OCLC : 32814464 .

[7] Of the life dates of Alexander Becker, only the year of death 1905 is known.

[8] In a 1845 published ads Edward White referred to as single agent for the lenses of Voigtlander (Source: Sheldon & Cos, Business or Advertising Directory John F. Throw, New York 1845, p 43.).

[9] Alexander Beckers: Fifteen Year's Experience of a Daguerreotyper .

[10] There are family relationships. Voigtländer had used a nanny in 1845. Zinken (1813–1902) married, whose father was Friedrich Wilhelm Langenheim. The mentioned “student friend Johann Bernhard Schneider” is said to have been a brother-in-law of Voigtlander (see: 6. Innovations from Philadelphia . In: Beaumont Newhall :), (husband of L (o) uise Langenheim). Schneider was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig from 1836 to 1854 , then until his retirement in 1882 Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Saxon Polytechnic in Dresden. (Source: Mention of Johann Bernhard Schneider in Nekrolog for the year 1883. In: Yearbook of inventions and advances in the fields of physics, chemistry and chemical technology, astronomy and meteorology , Vol. 20, Leipzig 1884, p. 412 online ) .

[11] § 66 Painted and Decorated Glass. In: Official report on the Industrial Exhibition of All Nations in London in 1851 . Third and last part, Deckersche Hofdruckerei, Berlin 1853, p. 339 digitized .

[12] Science and Art , Friedrich Vieweg, Braunschweig 1852, p. 75, digitized

[13] George S. Layne: The Kirkbride-Langenheim collaboration: early use of photography in psychiatric treatment in Philadelphia. In: Pennsylvania Magazine Hist. Biogr. 105 (1981) pp. 182-202 Digitalisat . Over 3,500 glass projection images have been preserved in the Pennsylvania Hospital archives.

[14] Eclipse of the Sun. In: Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art , accessed September 18, 2017 .