Gardner, Alexander

alexander Gardner, photographer born in Paisley, Scotland, on 17th October 1821, at the age of 14 moved with his family to Glasgow and became an apprentice jeweller. At the Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park, London, he saw the photography of American Mathew Brady, and started experimenting with photography. Gardner and his family moved to the United States in 1856. He initiated contact with Brady and came to work for him, eventually managing Brady's Washington, D.C., gallery.
On the outbreak of the American civil war there was a dramatic increase in the demand for Gardner's work as soldiers wanted to be photographed in uniform before going to the front-line. Many of the officers were photographed at the Matthew Brady Studio. On leaving Brady's studio, Gardner was commissioned as photographer with the survey team investigating a proposed route to extend the Union Pacific Railway along the 35th parallel during 1867-1868. (British Museum, 2016-04-15)