Photographic vans, wagons and cars

Before the invention of dry film, the photographer was tethered to the darkroom. If the photographer moved, the laboratory had to move with them. This theme explores the engineering marvels of the "darkroom on wheels"—from Roger Fenton’s converted wine merchant’s van in the Crimea to the iconic "What-is-it?" wagons of the American Civil War.
 
These cramped, chemical-stained wooden boxes on wheels were both transport and workspace. They battled mud, bullets, and rough terrain to facilitate the wet-plate collodion process in the field, allowing us to witness history as it unfolded on the ground.

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Ride the Wagon
 
Inspect the mobile laboratories that took photography off-road.