editor inventor Photographer author
Henry was born on November 8, 1817 at Plattsburg, New York, United States. He came of army stock - his father was Col. Josiah Snelling; his mother, Abigail, was the daughter of Col. Thomas Hunt - and his childhood was spent in army posts on the northern and northwestern frontiers, with Indian boys and girls and the children of other soldiers as his playfellows.
Apparently his father expected him to follow a military calling, for in 1828 he was entered in a military academy at Georgetown, but upon his father's death soon afterward the family moved to Detroit, where Henry completed his schooling.
Snelling began a business career in Detroit. In 1838 he was employed for a while as librarian of the New York Lyceum and then for a time conducted a circulating library.
In New York he met Edward Anthony, who was instrumental in awakening his interest in photography. When in 1843 Anthony started manufacturing and selling daguerrean supplies, Snelling became his general sales manager and devoted his energy to the forwarding of this business with such good purpose that it grew rapidly and was dominant in its field for many years. In 1849 Snelling wrote The History and Practice of the Art of Photography, published by his brother-in-law. In 1850 he sent out proposals for the issuance of the Photographic Art Journal, a pioneer in its field, and the first number appeared in January of the following year.
In 1854 he published A Dictionary of the Photographic Art. He was constantly experimenting with photographic processes. In 1856 he announced a color process, but never published a description of it. In addition to his editorial and experimental labors he retained his active connection with the firm of E. & H. T. Anthony, often devoting sixteen hours a day to its business.
Excessive work brought on nervous prostration, and, beginning in 1857, he was forced to spend three years in rest and idleness. About this time the Photographic and Fine Art Journal was sold to C. A. Seely, who had been a contributor to its pages.
Upon regaining his health, Snelling held clerical positions first with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and then with the immigration service, but suffered another breakdown, and was ordered to the country, where he experimented with farming for a period of two years. Later he moved to Newburgh, New York, but after a few months responded again to the lure of editorial work and, moving to Cornwall, New York, conducted the Cornwall Reflector for a period of eight years. Again illness overtook him, this time accompanied by blindness, which brought about his complete retirement in 1887.
He spent his last years in the Memorial Home, St. Louis. He died at the Memorial Home in his eightieth year.
Henry Hunt Snelling made his great contribution to photographic literature by creating The History and Practice of the Art of Photography, this is said to have been the first bound volume on photography published in America. He also invented the enlarging camera, devised a ray filter, eliminating the yellow rays by means of blue glass. He was a famous editor of Photographic Art Journal, Reflector of Cornwall.
Quotes from others about the person
Snelling was described by his nephew, George Haven Putnam, as "a good-natured 'Skimpole' kind of man, who was always in need of help from his brothers-in-law".
In 1837 he married Anna L. Putnam, a sister of George Palmer Putnam. She was the author of Kabaosa; or The Warriors of the West (1842). He had no children.
