On This Day in History March 16, 1799: English Botanist and Photographer Anna Atkins (March 16, 1799 - June 9, 1871) was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England. It believed that Atkins was the first woman to create a photograph and first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images entitled "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions" in 1843. Atkins also produced two other books with Botanist Anne Dixon (1799–1864) entitled “Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns” in 1853 and “Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns” in 1854.
The process used to make her photographic images is called the cyanotype method which was she learned from photographer William Henry Fox Talbot. Here is where there is some controversy. Others believe that Constance Talbot, the wife of William Henry Fox Talbot was the first female photographer not Atkins. Whether that is the truth or not, we’ll never know. Since there isn’t an actual photograph that can be dated with certainty, that truth is lost to the sands of time.
For Further Reading:
Anna Atkins from the J. Paul Getty Museum website
The Forgotten Story of Anna Atkins from the Google Arts and Culture website
Forgotten Photographer of Algae Blooms: 19th-Century Visionary Anna Atkins Moves Into the Spotlight by Claire Selvin from ArtNews dated January 18, 2019
Cyanotypes of British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) from the Public Domain Review
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions,1843–53 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art website
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions from the New York Public Library Digital Collections website
