George S. Cook

George Smith Cook (February 23, 1819 – November 27, 1902) was an early American photographer known as a pioneer in the development of the field. Primarily a studio portrait photographer, he is the first to have taken a photograph of combat during a war: he captured images in 1863 of Union ironclads firing on Fort Moultrie in South Carolina during the Civil War.

For a decade he moved throughout the South and other cities, living for a time in each. He would train students in photography, sell his studio to one, and move on. From 1849, he became skilled in daguerreotype technique after settling in Charleston, South Carolina. He specialized in portrait photography. His first wife died in 1864, and he married again soon after the war.

Cook is known for having amassed a large collection of photographs of figures of the Confederacy and the South, as well as the city of Richmond, Virginia, where he lived from 1880. His sons George LaGrange Cook and Huestis Pratt Cook also became notable photographers, and the younger particularly contributed to the family collection.

George S. and Huestis P. Cook were honored in 1952 with a major exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, entitled Southern Exposure. In 1954, during the directorship of Virginia McKenney Claiborne, The Valentine acquired much of the Cook collection, a total of 10,000 images, mostly glass-plate negatives. From July to November 2019, The Valentine had an exhibit of 40 photographs from this collection. Some 1400 images are available online.

Biography George Cook was the first known photographer to make a photograph of actual combat during a war. Cook took the first image of its kind while visiting Charleston, South Carolina, capturing Union ironclads firing on Fort Moultrie on September 8, 1863

Cook was born on February 23, 1819, in Stamford, Connecticut, and was orphaned at an early age. He began his work life in the mercantile business but was unsuccessful. He later moved to New Orleans and was studying fine art when daguerreotype photography was introduced in the United States in 1839. He became fascinated by this new technique and became interested in photography.

After running a gallery in New Orleans, for ten years he traveled throughout the South, and other major cities. He briefly settled in one city after another. He would establish a studio in a town, train photographers, sell the studio to a promising student, and move on. About 1890, the younger George moved to Richmond.

Legacy Cook bought the contents of the Anderson Studio in Richmond, and retained its images as part of his own collection.

The Valentine has digitized 1400 images from the Cook collection and made them available online. It continues to work on cataloguing, digitizing, and organizing the huge collection. From July to November 2019, The Valentine mounted Images from the Cook Studio, its first exhibit of 40 prints taken by Cook and his son Huestis.