Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
State Archives of Florida
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- State Archives Online Catalog
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State Library of Florida
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Listen: The Assorted Selections ProgramCyanotype Photography
- Cyanotypes prints are recognizable for their bright blue color.
- Cyanotypes are easy to create compared to other photographic processes, so they were popular with both amateur and professional photographers in the early 20th century.
- Engineers and architects used the cyanotype process to make blueprints.
History
Cyanotypes were invented in 1842 by astronomer and chemist John Herschel, making them among the oldest photographic technologies. However, cyanotypes on their own had some drawbacks. The process did not capture fine details as well as other methods and notably, its products were always bright blue in color. Cyanotypes found popularity in the 1880s as a cheap way for photographers to proof glass plate negatives and decide which to print out using a higher quality method.
Cyanotypes remained popular into the 20th century among amateur photographers because they were easy to work with. They could be made with little more than sunshine and rainwater, lowering the bar on the effort required to photograph, leading to less formal subjects for photographs like friends and pets. Cyanotype printing was also commonly used by engineers and architects to easily make copies of plans they had drawn, which they called “blueprints.
Did You Know?
Cyanotypes can also be used to make photograms, where a partially or fully opaque material, such as a plant or lace, is placed directly on top of sensitized paper and exposed together to make a silhouette. This method was used by botanist Anna Atkins to create her reference book, British Algae: Scientific Impressions (1843). Her book, full of direct photograms of plant specimens, was the first self-published book with camera-less photographic illustrations. She learned the cyanotype method directly from Herschel, who was a family friend.
Bridge family dogs in Dade City, ca. 1920. (State Archives of Florida)
