Mathew B. Brady and Levin Corbin Handy Photographic Studios Collection

Mathew B. Brady (circa 1823-1896) was an American photographer who achieved prominence through his portrait photographs and his organization of photographers to document the American Civil War from his studio in Washington, D.C.

Born in Warren County, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, Brady learned the daguerreotype process in Saratoga, New York. By 1844, he operated a daguerreotype studio in New York, New York. The following year he established his gallery of illustrious Americans, which consisted of daguerreotype portraits of American celebrities, he published a portion as lithographic reproductions in 1850.

In 1849, Brady established a studio in Washington D.C., with the expectation of creating portraits of senators and congressional representatives, but he closed it within a year due to high operating expenses and local competition. While in Washington, he met Juliette Handy, whom he married two years later. Around this time, Brady's eyesight began to fail and he concentrated on the management of his studios, which included posing sitters for their portraits, while employees created the photographs. In 1853, he opened a second studio in New York, New York.

In 1858, Brady re-established a studio in Washington D.C., with Alexander Gardner as his primary photographer. With the onset of the American Civil War, Brady organized a corps of photographers and assistants to document the people, events, and locales of the war. Photographers in this group included George N. Barnard, Alexander Gardner, James Gardner, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, William Pywell, and Thomas C. Roche. The photographers created conventional portraits of individuals and groups, views of military encampments, and the aftermath of battles. Images published or adapted as engravings in publications had the credit "Photograph by Brady."

Brady sought to market images of the American Civil War with little success. During the war, he transferred many original glass plate negatives to the photographic supply firm of E. & H. T. Anthony & Company to settle his debts with the company. In 1942, the Library of Congress purchased much of this material, where it became the Anthony-Taylor-Rand-Ordway-Eaton Collection.

Brady spent an estimated $100,000 to print ten thousand photographic prints documenting the American Civil War, but a lack of customers required him to sell his studios in New York and Washington and declare bankruptcy. In 1875, he finally sold a bulk of his photographs to the United States government for $25,000. Much of this material became part of the files of the Department of War eventually deposited in the United States National Archives and Records Administration. Nevertheless, Brady remained deeply in debt.

By 1883, Brady formed a photographic partnership with his nephew, Levin Corbin Handy, and Samuel C. Chester, to market images from the American Civil War and maintain a photographic studio in Washington. In 1887, Juliette Handy Brady died. Brady continued to face financial difficulties through the remainder of his life. On January 15, 1896, Brady died in the charity ward of Presbyterian Hospital in New York, New York, from complications following a streetcar accident. After his death, his remaining photography files became the property of Levin Corbin Handy.

Levin Corbin Handy (1855-1932), an American photographer, was a nephew and former apprentice of Mathew B. Brady.

Born in Washington, D.C., the son of Samuel S. Handy and Mary A. Handy, Handy began working in the Brady studio as an apprentice in 1867. He soon demonstrated himself as a skilled camera operator, and established his own photographic business in Washington by 1871.

Around 1880, Handy entered a photographic partnership with Samuel C. Chester. They operated a studio in Cape May, New Jersey in 1882. By 1883, Handy and Chester partnered with Brady to market images from the American Civil War. Chester ultimately left the partnership, while Handy maintained the studio at his home and studio located at 494 Maryland Avenue Southwest, Washington, D.C. When Mathew B. Brady died in 1896, his remaining photography files became the property of Handy.

In Washington, the L.C. Handy Studio offered an array of traditional photographic services, in particular to the Library of Congress and other governmental agencies. He also provided photograph duplication services to patrons of the Library of Congress and to members of the United States Congress.

Handy died at his home on March 23, 1932. He bequeathed his studio and photographic files, including his collection of Mathew B. Brady, to his daughters, Alice H. Cox and Mary H. Evans. In 1954, the Library of Congress purchased approximately ten thousand original, duplicate, and copy negatives from Cox and Evans.