Writing Photography from the Household: Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn / T. Story-Maskelyne and the Gendered Historiography of Image-Making
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 1:52 PM
Description
Before photography became the subject of formal historiographical accounts in the 1880s, Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn (1834–1926) composed an alternative historical writing within her scientific household context. Her journals, mainly produced between the 1850s and 70s, are now preserved at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre and the British Library. Instead of constructing a chronology of technological progress, Thereza reframed photography within the daily rhythms of household life and embodied practices. Her records indicate that photography emerged from intergenerational and interdisciplinary collaboration. One example comes from her detailed records of the 1858 Donati's Comet, during which she logged photographic exposure settings, telescope alignments, lunar phase shifts, and diary reflections on the collaboration with her father, John Dillwyn Llewelyn. Thereza's writings challenge assumptions about where photography's historiography began and who was authorised to shape it. The early history of photography might be better understood through the often neglected life writings of women who were part of the collaborative atmosphere of scientific households.
Haohao Zhang holds an MPhil in the history of science and is developing his PhD project on nineteenth-century knowledge and visual culture. His research examines how household practices operated in parallel with institutional science, with particular emphasis on the Maskelyne family as a site of intergenerational transmission of optical, chemical, and photographic knowledge. His work foregrounds the central roles of women and assistants.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Haohao, "Writing Photography from the Household: Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn / T. Story-Maskelyne and the Gendered Historiography of Image-Making" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 32.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/32
Writing Photography from the Household: Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn / T. Story-Maskelyne and the Gendered Historiography of Image-Making
Before photography became the subject of formal historiographical accounts in the 1880s, Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn (1834–1926) composed an alternative historical writing within her scientific household context. Her journals, mainly produced between the 1850s and 70s, are now preserved at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre and the British Library. Instead of constructing a chronology of technological progress, Thereza reframed photography within the daily rhythms of household life and embodied practices. Her records indicate that photography emerged from intergenerational and interdisciplinary collaboration. One example comes from her detailed records of the 1858 Donati's Comet, during which she logged photographic exposure settings, telescope alignments, lunar phase shifts, and diary reflections on the collaboration with her father, John Dillwyn Llewelyn. Thereza's writings challenge assumptions about where photography's historiography began and who was authorised to shape it. The early history of photography might be better understood through the often neglected life writings of women who were part of the collaborative atmosphere of scientific households.
Haohao Zhang holds an MPhil in the history of science and is developing his PhD project on nineteenth-century knowledge and visual culture. His research examines how household practices operated in parallel with institutional science, with particular emphasis on the Maskelyne family as a site of intergenerational transmission of optical, chemical, and photographic knowledge. His work foregrounds the central roles of women and assistants.