This document provides a brief history of photography from its origins in the 1540s to the 1940s. It highlights some of the early inventors and pioneers of photography such as Niepce, Daguerre, Talbot, and Fox Talbot. It then discusses the use of photography during the Civil War and the development of pictorialism. The document also summarizes modernist photography of the early 20th century as well as the use of photography for social documentary to document injustices, hardships, and labor. Each era is illustrated with 1-2 example photographs and photographers.