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37-674: The Etruria Industrial Museum is located in Etruria, Staffordshire , in England. The museum is a typical and well-preserved example of a nineteenth century British steam-powered potter's mill. It is situated between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Etruria staircase locks of the Caldon Canal . The museum has a modern entrance building, leading into a Grade II* listed building which

74-565: A Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver, with observations by Humphrey Davy. Invented by T. Wedgwood, Esq.” The paper was published and detailed Wedgwood's procedures and accomplishments, as well as Davy's own variations of them. In 1802 the Royal Institution was not the venerable force it is today and its Journal was: a little paper printed from time to time to let

111-513: A distinction between tannic acid and gallic acid, referring to either "tincture, infusion of, or a decoction of galls" and gallic acid as though all were interchangeable. Any of these solutions would contain little more than 3% gallic acid, which is relatively slow acting. Tannic acid, in contrast, which constitutes between 60 and 79% is fast acting. The result being that it would immediately act upon any gelatine present to render it insoluble; hence its use, since time immemorial, to tan leather which

148-473: A light-sensitive chemical. His practical experiments yielded only shadow image photograms that were not light-fast, but his conceptual breakthrough and partial success have led some historians to call him "the first photographer". Thomas Wedgwood was the fifth child of eight born to Josiah Wedgwood and his wife Sarah, nee Wedgwood, his third cousin. His father was the founder of the Wedgwood company. He

185-473: A working steam engine called Princess . The museum buildings were originally a bone and flint mill built in 1857 to grind materials for the pottery industry. Inside visitors can see displays on the history of the site and original machinery. On the first weekend of each month the museum's 1903 coal-fired boiler provides steam to operate Princess which then turns the grinding machinery. Etruria Canals Festival takes place annually at Etruria Industrial Museum on

222-483: Is a strategic material (i.e., for solder's boots, and harness to attach guns to gun-carriages etc.). Talbot would have known of this group of organic compounds and there is evidence that he had experimented with gallic acid (2-3-4 tri-hydronitrobenzoic acid) since 1835 at the latest. First synthesised by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1786 whose studies were widely known (earlier, in fact if you reference his experiments with secret writing). Reade's images darkened quickly because

259-570: Is a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent , Staffordshire , England. Etruria was the fourth and penultimate site for the Wedgwood pottery business. Josiah Wedgwood , who was previously based in Burslem , opened his new works in 1769. It was named after the Italian district of Etruria , home of the Etruscan people who were renowned for their artistic products. The site covered 350 acres (140 ha) and

296-407: Is open to the public only occasionally throughout the year. The museum website advertises the days when the 1903 coal-fired boiler provides steam to operate " Princess ", which then turns the grinding machinery . As of September 2015 the mill was purchased from St Modwen by the members of Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill Volunteers CIO and will continue to be leased to Stoke-on-Trent City Council as

333-584: The North Staffordshire Railway on 9 October 1848, but it was closed on 30 September 2005. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Etruria Railway Station was used as a base for Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show. His reason was, that as it was in the Midlands, it was central to the whole country (and possibly a cheaper rent or lease for the sidings) and it was thus easier to get around the whole country than travelling completely from

370-488: The 1790s. An authentic Wedgwood image would be a key historical relic, avidly sought by collectors and museums, and would probably sell for a seven-figure price at auction. Considerable controversy erupted after the announcement and Schaaf's rationale for such an attribution was vigorously disputed by other respected photography historians. A few days before the scheduled sale, the image was withdrawn so that it could be more completely analyzed. If any special physical analysis

407-404: The 1790s. His was only one of several latter 19th century claims alleging the current or former existence of improbably early photographs, usually based on decades-old memories or depending on questionable assumptions, which investigators determined to be unverifiable, unreliable or definitely mistaken. In 2008, there were widespread news reports that one of Wedgwood's photographs had surfaced and

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444-435: The 1970s (initially as an ancient monument ). After a period of restoration, started in 1978, the museum was opened by Fred Dibnah in 1991. Inside the restored site visitors see displays on the history of the mill and its site, and its machinery. There is a working steam engine called "Princess" dating from the 1820s, which was second-hand at the time the mill was built. There is a working historic blacksmith's forge flanking

481-680: The Silver Pictures, about which, when at home, I will make some experiments... In his many experiments, possibly with advice on chemistry from his tutor Alexander Chisholm and members of the Lunar Society , Wedgwood used paper and white leather coated with silver nitrate . The leather proved to be more light-sensitive. His primary objective had been to capture real-world scenes with a camera obscura, but those attempts were unsuccessful. He did succeed in using exposure to direct sunlight to capture silhouette images of objects in contact with

518-528: The Stoke-on-Trent area. The press hall there was responsible for printing several newspaper titles, including The Sentinel , and many northern editions of The Daily Mail . The Sentinel had previously been based in Hanley, and upon the site's closure it moved back. The site was bought by Bet365 and demolished to make way for new offices. Etruria was served by a railway station which was opened by

555-577: The canal bridges, and there is no through-traffic, making the large park-like area centred on the mill an attractive one for the residents of an increasingly gentrified Etruria. The Etruria Canals Festival generally takes place annually at and around the Etruria Industrial Museum on the first weekend in June , although in some years the large outdoor market of stalls is not staged by the committee. Etruria, Staffordshire Etruria

592-453: The circle of his relations" and that he was "strongly attracted" to musical and sensitive young men. In imperfect health as a child and a chronic invalid as an adult, he died in the county of Dorset at the age of 34. His illness has been linked to that of his famous nephew, Charles Darwin. Wedgwood is the first person reliably documented to have used light-sensitive chemicals to capture silhouette images on durable media such as paper, and

629-559: The craft of photography. Subsequent research (Batchen, p. 228) has shown it was widely known and was mentioned in chemistry textbooks as early as 1803. David Brewster , later a close friend of photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot , published an account of the paper in the Edinburgh Magazine (Dec 1802). The paper was translated into French, and also printed in Germany in 1811. Another pioneer, J. B. Reade 's work in 1839

666-410: The first known to have attempted to photograph the image formed in a camera obscura . The date of his first experiments in photography is unknown, but he is believed to have indirectly advised James Watt (1736–1819) on the practical details prior to 1800. In a letter that has been variously dated to 1790, 1791 and 1799, Watt wrote to Josiah Wedgwood: Dear Sir, I thank you for your instructions as to

703-443: The first weekend in June. Etruria remains connected by public transport. First Potteries operates bus routes 4 and 4A along Forge Lane and Festival Way between Hanley and Newcastle-under-Lyme ; the 4 continues to Crackley while the 4A continues to Talke Pits . Thomas Wedgwood (photographer) He is the first person known to have thought of creating permanent pictures by capturing camera images on material coated with

740-524: The heart of the Etruria Industrial Museum. The Trent and Mersey Canal ´s course through the city is a linear Conservation Area . Along with the Middleport section of the canal, the Etruria section is particularly important in terms of urban heritage, and the Mill site is immediately abutted by several other important historic sites: Access to vehicles is partly restricted due to weight restrictions on

777-687: The move of Wedgwood after the Second World War and the subsequent closure of the nearby Shelton Bar steelworks. Large-scale regeneration began in the 1980s with the Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival . Since the Festival closed at the end of 1986, the site has been given over to the Festival Park commercial and retail development. Etruria was also formerly home to The Sentinel , the local evening newspaper for

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814-410: The museum's modern entrance building. Much further restoration work was completed on the wider landscape setting of the mill in the mid-1980s, as part of the preparations for the national Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival . At 2015 the museum is operated by volunteers through Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill Volunteer group, although it is part of Stoke-on-Trent City Council ’s Museum Service, and as such it

851-441: The pages of a larger book. In the mid-to-late-1830s, both Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre found ways of chemically stabilising the images their processes produced, making them relatively insensitive to additional exposure to light. In 1839, John Herschel pointed out his earlier published discovery that hyposulphite of soda (now known as sodium thiosulfate but still nicknamed "hypo") dissolved silver halides . This allowed

888-539: The remaining light-sensitive silver salts to be completely washed away, truly "fixing" the photograph. Herschel also found that in the case of silver nitrate, a thorough washing with plain water sufficed to remove the unwanted remainder from paper—at least, the type of paper Herschel used—but only if the water was very pure. In 1885, Samuel Highley, an early photography historian, published an article in which he remarked that he had seen what must have been unfixed examples of early pictures made by Wedgwood, presumably dating to

925-413: The shade, but in this case the exposure should be only for a few minutes; by the light of candles and lamps, as commonly employed, it is not sensibly affected. Although unfixed, photographs such as Wedgwood made can be preserved indefinitely by storing them in total darkness and protecting them from the harmful effects of prolonged open exposure to the air—for example, by keeping them tightly pressed between

962-521: The south to the north and vice versa. Many of the performers in his show were often seen around the locality of May Bank and Wolstanton in their Native Indian attire, as it was the only clothes that they owned. There is local folklore which states that an elephant used in the show, died and is buried in the vicinity of the railway station. Etruria is home to the Etruria Industrial Museum , a scheduled ancient monument , which includes

999-525: The subscribers to the infant institution know what was being done ... the 'Journal' did not live beyond a first volume. There is nothing to show that Davy's account was ever read at any meeting; and the print of it would have been read, apparently, if read at all, only by the small circle of members and subscribers to the institution, of whom, we may be pretty sure, only a small minority can have been scientific people. The 1802 paper and Wedgwood's work, directly influenced other chemists and scientists delving into

1036-484: The tannic acid component of the"extract of galls" has the power to spontaneously reduce silver nitrate to its metallic state. Wedgwood was unable to "fix" his pictures to make them immune to the further effects of light. Unless kept in complete darkness, they would slowly but surely darken all over, eventually destroying the image. As Davy put it in his paper of 1802, the picture, immediately after being taken, must be kept in some obscure place. It may indeed be examined in

1073-679: The treated surface, as well as the shadow images cast by sunlight passing through paintings on glass. In both cases, the sunlit areas rapidly darkened while the areas in shadow did not. Wedgwood met chemist Humphry Davy (1778–1829) at the Pneumatic Clinic in Bristol, where Wedgwood was being treated. Davy wrote up his friend's work for publication in London's Journal of the Royal Institution (1802), titling it “An Account of

1110-531: Was able to be a patron after he inherited his portion of his father's wealth in 1795. As a young adult, Wedgwood became interested in the best method of educating children, and spent time studying infants. From his observations, he concluded that most of the information that young brains absorbed came through the eyes, and were thus related to light and images. Wedgwood never married and had no children. His biographer notes that "neither his extant letters nor family tradition tell us of his caring for any woman outside

1147-438: Was about to be sold at auction. The photogram , as shadow photographs are now called, showed the silhouette and internal structure of a leaf and was marked in one corner with what appeared to be the letter "W". Originally unattributed, then attributed to Talbot , an essay by Talbot expert Larry Schaaf, included in the auction catalog, rejected that attribution but suggested that it could actually be by Thomas Wedgwood and date from

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1184-475: Was an uncle of the English naturalist Charles Darwin , through his sister Susannah Wedgwood who married Robert Darwin . He was born in Etruria, Staffordshire , now part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in England. Wedgwood grew up and was educated at Etruria, and was instilled from his youth with a love for art. He also spent much of his short life associating with painters, sculptors, and poets, to whom he

1221-440: Was directly influenced by reading of Wedgwood's more rapid results when using leather. Reade tried treating paper with a tanning agent used in making leather and found that after sensitization the paper darkened more rapidly when exposed. Reade's discovery was communicated to Talbot by a friend, as was later proven in a court case over patents. The account given by Reade of his experiments was entirely retrospective. His recollection

1258-551: Was formerly the Etruscan bone and flint mill. The mill is also a scheduled monument. The bone and flint mill was built in 1857 to grind materials for the local pottery industry. It was operated as a family business until 1975. The location of such a facility next to a canal is not unusual; the Cheddleton Flint Mill on the Caldon Canal is another example. The site was given an official heritage listing in

1295-486: Was later done, the findings had not been made public as of mid-2015, when Schaaf presented some new discoveries which apparently solved the major mysteries and laid his unexpectedly sensationalised scholarly speculation to rest. The initial "W", it now seems, is that of William West, an entrepreneur who was selling packets of " photogenic drawing paper " to the public only weeks after instructions for its preparation were unveiled by its inventor, Talbot, early in 1839. The image

1332-602: Was next to the Trent and Mersey Canal . As well as Wedgwood's home, Etruria Hall , it included the Etruria Works which remained in use by the Wedgwood enterprise until 1950. The Wedgwood factory is now in Barlaston , a village about six miles to the south of the Etruria site. Etruria Hall was the site of the substantial invention of photography by Thomas Wedgwood in the 1790s. Much of Etruria became derelict with

1369-446: Was shown to have been in error, made in 1840 and not 1839, drawn from recollections he made in 1851, more than ten years after. There are two additional points relevant to Reade's erroneous claim: he was discussing the use of Gallic acid with silver nitrate. Silver nitrate is not a halide and unlike the chloride and fluoride of silver it has not the potential to develop the latent image. In addition Reade failed to understand or to make

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