Bernard Vincent Heathcote

The feminine influence: Aspects of the role of women in the evolution of photography in the British Isles

Abstract After daguerreotype portraiture was introduced into the British Isles, entrepreneurs striving to succeed as photographic artists soon realized that if their productions were to be commercially and socially acceptable, it was imperative that they should be received favourably by the ‘gentle sex’.

The Clayton (Byron) Family in England

Abstract Many students of photographic history will be familiar with a series of photographs of New York portraying a wide variety of scenes in that city during several decades from c.1890 onwards. These images, now deposited in the Museum of the City of New York and known as the Byron Collection, were taken by Joseph Byron and his son, Percy Claude Byron, together with their staff and associates. This large collection of prints and negatives is an irreplaceable treasury which is also highly valued by local historians and sociologists, for the diversity of the firm was truly remarkable. Its subjects include, for instance, architectural studies, society weddings, street views, apartment interiors, tenement backyards, theatrical productions and fashionable department stores.