Are all of the photographs in the Eastman House Collection “original” photographs?
Only a small portion of all photographs were created as unique, one-of-a-kind images. These include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and a few other processes. Photography is by its very nature, a reproductive medium, i.e. multiple images are made from a single negative. Collectors make a distinction of the vintage print. This means that the particular image was made close to the time that the negative was made, by the same individual who made the negative, using the materials, the paper and processes of the day. Later prints made from an earlier negative, prints made by someone other than the photographer and photographic copies of another photograph all have less significance to the collector. Eastman House collects and displays vintage photographs. Exceptions to this might include photographs displayed in long-term, didactic exhibits.
