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Daguerreotype

By Robert McNamara, About.com

Definition: A photograph taken by the early photographic process invented by French artist Louis Daguerre (1787-1851).

Daguerre's process was announced to the public in early 1839, and by the 1840s daguerreotypes were becoming common and the age of photography was underway. The technology developed by Daguerre became obsolete by the 1860s.

Examples:
The earliest photographs taken in America were daguerreotypes.

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