Albert Knox Dawson (September 20, 1885 – February 1, 1967) was a photojournalist and film correspondent who covered World War I with the German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian army.

Early life

Albert Knox Dawson was born in

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...

, Indiana on September 20, 1885. He was the oldest son of Thomas A. Dawson and Lida T. Knox. His father was a local bank officer, contractor and real estate manager. At an early age, Dawson began experimenting with taking pictures. Out of his fascination with

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

grew a professional career as a

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmakin ...

Career as a photographer

In 1907, Dawson left Vincennes and began working for the photographic agency

Underwood & Underwood Underwood & Underwood was an early producer and distributor of stereoscopic and other photographic images, and later was a pioneer in the field of news bureau photography. History The company was founded in 1881 in Ottawa, Kansas, by two brothers ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 1912, Dawson started his photographic firm Brown & Dawson which was based in Stamford, Connecticut. From November 1914 until February 1916, Dawson was a photographer at the European front. His regular news pictures were distributed through

. His documentary films were released by the American Correspondent Film Company. Dawson contributed to the following motion pictures: ''

The Battle and Fall of Przemysl ''The Battle and Fall of Przemysl'' is a 1915 documentary war film shot on the Eastern Front by official war photographer to the Central Powers, Albert K. Dawson. Its four reels depicted the Siege of Przemyśl The siege of Przemyśl was the long ...

''
''The Battles of A Nation''
''System - The Secret of Success'', ''Friends and Foes'', and ''The Warring Millions/Fighting Germans''. He was attached to the German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian armies. Albert Dawson was among the most active American photographers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In July 1917 he was among the first photographic officers who received a commission in the U.S. Signal Corps, together with Edwin F. Weigle of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and photographer Edward J. Steichen. Dawson was promoted to Captain in November 1917 and put in charge of building the new military photographic laboratory in Washington, D.C. Dawson was also instrumental in training the first official American war photographers. After the war, Dawson worked in the tourist trade for the American Express Company. Albert Dawson died in

on February 1, 1967.

Film work

Various segments from Dawson's war footage have been found by authors Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham while researching their book ''American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918.'' While following the Austro-Hungarian army at the Eastern Front in the summer of 1915, Dawson produced thi
motion picture report on the Russian trench system
that has partly been retrieved by the authors at the nitrate film vaults of the Library of Congress. The Battle and Fall of Przemysl USA 1915

The Battle and Fall of Przemysl USA 1915

During his stay in Berlin, Dawson made still and moving pictures of

Sir Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

, the famous

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

who at the time was involved in raising a revolt in Ireland against the British. Dawson's film was located by the authors in 2016 in the collection of the Library of Congress
These historical scenes taken by Dawson in Berlin in 1915 can be viewed here
The films are the only extant footage showing Roger Casement. Dawson's film work during World War I featured in the documentar
''Mobilizing Movies! The U.S. Signal Corps Goes to War, 1917-1919.''

Sources

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

, ''The War, The West and The Wilderness'' (London/New York 1979) * Ron van Dopperen, "Shooting the Great War: Albert Dawson and the American Correspondent Film Company, 1914-1918", ''Film History'' vol. 2 (1990), 123–129. * Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham, "Film Flashes of the European Front: The War Diary of Albert K. Dawson." ''Film History'' vol. 23 (2011), 20–37. * James W. Castellan, Ron van Dopperen, Cooper C. Graham, ''American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918'' (New Barnet, 2014), * Cooper C. Graham and Ron van Dopperen, “Roger Casement on Screen: the Background Story on an Historical Film Opportunity”, ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', online edition 2016, https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2015.1100386 * Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham, ''Shooting the Great War: Albert Dawson and the American Correspondent Film Company'' (Charleston, SC 2020, 6th printing)

Films and photos

Albert K. Dawson: The Kaiser's Cameraman (World War I pictures from the National Archives and Library of Congress)

U.S. Signal Corps Great War Photographers - featuring Captain Albert K. Dawson and his cameramen, November 1917 (pictures from the National Archives)

''The Battle and Fall of Przemysl'' (American Correspondent Film Company/USA, 1915)

Film Lecture ''The Battle and Fall of Przemysl'' (American Correspondent Film Company/USA, 1915) PDF

''The Battles of a Nation'' (American Correspondent Film Company/USA, 1915)

''The Battles of a Nation'' (USA, 1915) - original film titles, PDF

''The Warring Millions'' (USA, 1915/1916) - original film titles, PDF

"Mobilizing Movies! The U.S. Signal Corps Goes To War, 1917-1919" (documentary, 2017)

Movie Trailer "American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918"

References

External links

* https://shootingthegreatwar.blogspot.com * Vincennes, Indiana#Notable residents * Jackson Heights, Queens#Notable residents {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Albert K. 1967 deaths 1885 births War photography American photojournalists 20th-century American photographers American war photographers War correspondents of World War I Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I World War I photographers People from Vincennes, Indiana People from Knox County, Indiana Journalists from Indiana