At our recent Symposium in Hartford, Connecticut, Daguerreian Society President Mike Robinson presented longtime member Carl Mautz with the Society's prestigious Fellowship Award. The award recognizes individuals who have advanced scholarship in the field of photo history and generously shared that knowledge with contemporaries and future generations of historians, scholars, and collectors.
Carl is a photo historian, publisher, and dealer best known for his pioneering research on 19th-century Western photographers. Beginning as a collector in the 1970s, he developed an interest in the photographers who documented the settlement and landscapes of the American frontier. His passion for uncovering biographical details and studio locations evolved into one of the most comprehensive reference projects in the field.
To share and preserve this knowledge, Carl — a lawyer by training — founded Carl Mautz Publishing, through which he produced scholarly yet accessible works devoted to early photography. His most acclaimed title, (1997; updated 2018), remains an indispensable reference for curators, collectors, and historians, cataloging thousands of practitioners active west of the Mississippi in the 19th century.
As a longtime dealer and collector, Carl has specialized in daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereoviews, and other vintage images depicting Western towns, mining camps, and Native American subjects. His dual role as scholar and dealer helped bridge academic and collecting communities, and his meticulous research has been cited by major institutions, including the Library of Congress.
While we celebrate Carl for this well-deserved honor, it's worth taking a moment to recall all the past recipients who have contributed so much to the Society's mission of advancing the understanding and appreciation of early photography.
We raise a glass to the following individuals who have informed and inspired our members, helped build a sense of community, and made an outsized contribution to the scholarship and preservation of 19th-century photographs.
2025 - Carl Mautz
2024 - Malcolm Daniel
2023 - Carlos Vertanessian
2022 - Founding Members of the Society Alan Johanson, George Whiteley, Larry Gottheim, Dennis Waters
2021 - No Symposium
2020 - No Symposium
2019 - Jane Aspinwall and Mike Robinson
2018 - Leonard Walle
2017 - Jeremy Rowe
2016 - Alex Novak (Achievement Symposium Award)
2015 - Greg French
2014 - Margaret Calvarin
2013 - Matthew Isenburg, John Wood
2012 - Mark Johnson
2011 - Carol Johnson
2010 - Keith Davis
2009 - Jean-Pierre Spilbauer
2008 - Grant Romer
2007 - John Craig
