Gezicht op de Delaware before 1867

This photograph of the Delaware River, taken by Jesse Graves, likely dates to the late 19th century. It's an albumen print, a process that dominated photography for decades. Albumen paper was made by coating a sheet with egg white and then sensitizing it with silver nitrate. A negative was then placed on the paper and exposed to light. The resulting image has a characteristic warmth and fine detail. Its production was labor-intensive, involving a complex chemical process and careful manipulation. As such, albumen prints became a popular method of mass production. The photograph itself shows a picturesque view of the Delaware River from Sunset Hill, capturing a moment of tranquil beauty. But it’s the making of the print, that really tells us about the material conditions of image-making at the time, and photography’s relationship to the wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. By focusing on these kinds of factors, we get a fuller sense of what a work like this really meant.