George Bradford Brainerd

Place: Haddam Neck

Born: 1845

Death: 1887

Biography:

George Bradford Brainerd was an American civil engineer, amateur photographer, and an amateur natural historian. He was born on November 27, 1845, in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, from which he graduated in 1865. As a civil engineer, Brainerd worked for the then-City of Brooklyn in the position of Deputy Water Purveyor for 17 years (1869 to 1886). He published the 48-page book The Water Works of Brooklyn (1873). Brainerd's work as an amateur photographer began when he was just 13 years old. He began by making his own cameras and developing ambrotypes from them. He used the collodion wet plate process, which created a glass negative. Using glass produced an exceptionally sharp, more stable and detailed negative. Also, several prints could be produced from one negative. Brainerd died on April 13, 1887, at 12:00 pm in Brooklyn. He is buried in an unknown plot in Old Rock Landing Cemetery in Haddam, Connecticut. He suffered from an acute throat infection in the mid-1880s and had a brain tumor, which led to a stroke and paralysis. Smoking and frequent exposure to toxic photography chemicals likely contributed to the development of his tumor.