Catharine Weed Barnes Ward: Advocate for Victorian Women Photographers

This article examines Catharine Weed Barnes Ward's campaign for women's access to photography at the end of the nineteenth century. At a time when Victorian women's roles held firmly to the domestic, Barnes/Ward set a model for women through her photographic imagery, writings and public speaking in America and Great Britain. The findings illustrate how one woman of upper class means guided women of her social equal to pursue photography as an artistic expression, and for those women of more modest circumstances, she proposed photography as an avenue of financial remuneration.