Invented in 1839, the daguerreotype was the first widely used photographic process with an exposure time of up to 15 minutes. In early days, photographs were a formal and important event and captured the ideal of a person.

Originally released by Smithsonian Media, 2014. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on March 10, 2015.

Why Don’t People Smile in Old Photographs?: Ask Smithsonian (1:00); .