Perez Mann Bachelder (December 31, 1818 - January 25, 1873) was an early American photographer active in the Mid 19th century. Perez was born in Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts. Little is known of his early life, but by the 1850s, he was an itinerant photographer in California capturing the Gold Rush. In 1854, following the gold rushes, he moved to Victoria, Australia, opening a daguerreotype saloon in Melbourne (57 Collings Street East). He quickly became the most prominent photographer in Melbourne, operating in partnership with Daniel O'Neill as 'Bachelder and O'Neill's Daguerreotype and Collondian Portrait Rooms'. After considerable success in the Outback, he returned to Boston in 1860, where he opened a study with James Wallace Black (1825 - 1896). The firm lasted until 1866, after which it was sold to F. A. Dunn, J. Botterill, and J. N. Wilson. Bachelder himself moved to San Francisco, where he died in 1873. The firm bearing his name persisted until 1895 under W. J. Stubbs. More by this mapmaker...

James Wallace Black (February 10, 1825 - January 5, 1896) was an American photographer based in Boston in the mid-19th century. Black was born in Francestown, New Hampshire. He made a name for himself as a photographer in partnership with John Adams Whipple (1822 - 1891), the first American to manufacture daguerreotype chemicals. He is most famous for his 1859 portrait of abolitionist John Brown and his 1860 photograph of Walt Whitman. Also in 1860, using a balloon over Boston, his took the first aerial photographs in the United States. Also in 1860, he established a daguerreotype business with Perez Mann Bachelder (1818 - 1873), 'Bachelder and Black'. Black later became known for his magic lantern slides, including important photographs of the Great Boston Fire of 1872. Learn More...

John Henry Bufford (July 27, 1810 - October 8, 1870) was a Boston based lithographer and printer. Bufford was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He apprenticed as an artist and lithographer at Pendleton Lithography (1825 - 1836) of Boston. In 1835 he relocated to New York where he took independent commissions from George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier, among others. Returning to his hometown of Boston in 1839, he took a position of chief artist with the firm of Benjamin W. Thayer, heir to Pendleton Lithography. He probably married Thayer's sister, Anna Melora Tufts Thayer (1808-1878). Bufford has been highly criticized as an engraver, with one historian, David Tatham, stating he had 'a mediocre sort of craftsmanship at best' and 'no very special skills as an original artist.' We, however, find no justification for this harsh criticism. Instead Bufford gravitated toward business and management. By 1844 Thayer's shop was renamed J. H. Bufford and Company. The firm specialized in decorative sheet music, panoramic views, illustrations for books, retractions of paintings, and commercial printing. Bufford is credited with being one of the first employers and mentors of the important artist and engraver Winslow Homer. Bufford died in 1870, passing on the business to his sons Frank G. Bufford and John Henry Bufford Jr. These young men, operating under the imprint of 'J.H. Bufford's Sons, Manufacturing Publishers of Novelties in Fine Arts', expanded the firm with offices in New York and Chicago. A possibly related lithographic printing firm named Bufford Chandler was incorporated in Boston in 1893. It later relocated to Concord, New Hampshire but closed in 1925 when its state business charter was repealed. Learn More...