[Botanical Specimens]

William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1830s and 1840s and Anna Atkins in the 1850s were both serious botanists who used the new medium of photography to accurately record the details of botanical specimens. William Salvin, whose experiments are displayed below, was likely more interested in simply trying the new scientific discovery. Amelia Bergner, a wealthy Philadelphia brewer, used the same technique—laying leaves and ferns on photosensitized sheets of paper and exposing them in the sun—with artistic purpose several decades later, producing images in which the plants are arranged decoratively. These are her only known works in photography.