Mathew B. Brady

Other: M.B. Brady
Other: Mathew Brady
Other: Matthew Brady
Other: Matthew B. Brady
Other: Brady's Daguerreotype Gallery
Other: Brady's Gallery
Joint: Mathew Brady's Studio

Born: 1823 - US, NY, Warren County
Died: 1896, 15 January - US. NY, New York
Gender: Male
Active: US
 
American photographer best known for portraits of famous contemporary Americans and his photographs of the American Civil War.

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His obituary in the New York Times (Jan 19, 1896, p.3) read:
 
Death of MATTHEW B. BRAD [sic]
 
The Famous Photographer of War Times
Succumbs to Misfortunes at the
Presbyterian Hospital
 
Matthew B. Brady, the famous war photographer, died at the Presbyterian Hospital Wednesday night, alone and unnoticed. The hospital books state that he died from Bright's disease, but his death was really due to the misfortunes which have befallen him in recent years. He was seventy-two years old.
 
Matthew Brady has a double claim to remembrance. He was one of the earliest and for many years the leading photographer of this country.
 
When the Prince of Wales visited the United States, in 1860, as a slim and handsome youth of nineteen Mr. Brady photographed him. A copy of this photograph was forwarded two years ago to the Prince who acknowledged the receipt in kindly terms.
 
Bayard Taylor spoke of Mr. Brady in the days before the war as the "court photographer."
 
During the war Mr. Brady engaged a number of photographers who took upward of 30,000 pictures of battle scenes, showing famous battlefields as they appeared before and after some of the greatest conflicts of the war. Nearly every important paper and illustrated magazine published during war times made use of these photographs.
 
He hoped the Government would purchase the complete collection, and, although the War Department took the bulk of them, the photographer was never repaid for the time and money he spent.
 
When he became old and nearly blind, and finally had the additional misfortune to meet with a carriage accident. Mr. Brady became practically dependent on the kindness of his friends.
 
He was a veteran of the Seventh Regiment, and was cared for by members of that organization and the Artist's Fund Society. It was through their efforts that he was admitted to the Presbyterian Hospital.
 
Among those whose photographs Mr. Brady took were Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, the two Van Burens, Lincoln, Seward, Chase, "Dolly" Madison, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Polk and Harriet Lane.