Summer A. Smith Explained

Summer A. Smith was an American photographer who worked in the 1850s and 1860s and was an early creator of daguerrotypes.

Career

Smith was one of eighteen professional women photographers who worked in Pennsylvania prior to 1870.^[1]

She was active in the 1850s and 1860s, including a stint in Philadelphia and Montrose, Iowa.^{[2] [3]} While in Philadelphia, she boarded at one of the several inns known as the Black Horse Tavern and operated a daguerreotypist studio nearby.

Two of her prints are included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.^[4]

Notable work

• Blacksmith Forging a Horseshoe, 1859-1860^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Hudgins, Nicole . The Gender of Photography: How Masculine and Feminine Values Shaped the History of Nineteenth-Century Photography . Routledge . 2020 . 9781000211504 . 250.
2. Web site: Summer A. Smith . 2022-01-30 . Sotheby's.
3. Book: Palmquist . Peter E. . Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary, 1839-1865 . Kailbourn . Thomas R. . 2005 . Stanford University Press . 978-0-8047-4057-9 . 558 . en.
4. Web site: Summer A. Smith: Blacksmith Forging a Horseshoe. mfah.org.
5. Web site: MFA H Annual Report 2017-2018 . 82.