Henry Hunt Snelling (8 November 1817 – 24 June 1897) was a 19th-century American photographer, editor, author and inventor.

Biography

Born in Plattsburgh, New York, Snelling was a son of Col.

Josiah Snelling Colonel Josiah Snelling (1782 – 20 August 1828) was the first commander of Fort Snelling, a fort located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in Minnesota. He was responsible for the initial design and construction of the f ...

and Abigail (Hunt) Snelling. During Henry's infancy, the Snellings moved to the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota (then St. Peter's) rivers to build the U. S. Army fort that even today bears his father's name. Henry was educated at a military academy in Georgetown, DC. For a time he was the librarian of the New York Lyceum, In New York, he met Edward Anthony, from whom he learned about photography. Anthony was a manufacturer of photographic supplies, and Snelling came to work for him. In 1849 he wrote ''The History and Practice of the Art of Photography'', which was published by his brother-in-law. This is supposedly the first bound volume on photography published in America. He also edited the ''Photographic Art Journal'' (1851–53 and 1854–60). This was later renamed the ''Photographic and Fine Art Journal''. The firm E. and H.T. Anthony exhausted him, and he left in 1857. He sold the ''Photographic and Fine Art Journal''. In 1871 he moved to

Cornwall, New York Cornwall is a Town (New York), town in Orange County, New York, United States, approximately north of New York City on the western shore of the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was at 12,884. Cornwall has become a Commuter t ...

, where he edited and published the newspaper, ''Reflector of Cornwall''. In 1887 he had to leave that publication because he had become blind. Snelling married Anna L. Putnam in 1837. She was the sister of

George Palmer Putnam George Palmer Putnam (February 7, 1814 – December 20, 1872) was an American publisher and author. He founded the firm G. P. Putnam's Sons and ''Putnam's Magazine''. He was an advocate of international copyright reform, secretary for many year ...

and herself an author (''Kabaosa; or, The Warriors of the West''). Snelling and his wife authored plays together. Additionally, Anna translated de Brebisson's ''The Collodion Process in Photography for the Production of Instantaneous Proofs''. Snelling died at the Memorial Home, St. Louis, 24 Jun 1897. Snelling was also known as an inventor. He invented an enlarging camera (1852), a blue glass filter, and announced, but did not develop, a color photographic process (1856).

Works

* ''History and Practice of Photography'' (1849) * ''Dictionary of the Photographic Art'' (1853)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, Henry Hunt 1817 births 1897 deaths American magazine editors American librarians American photographers 19th-century American inventors American non-fiction writers People from Plattsburgh, New York People from Cornwall, New York 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers Journalists from New York (state)