Role of ichnology in the history of photography

Vertebrate ichnology in North America has a long and distinguished history, starting with the remarkable discoveries by Edward Hitchcock of dinosaur footprints and trackways in the Connecticut River Valley. Hitchcock assembled a unique collection that is currently housed in the Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, and his work essentially constituted the beginnings of ichnology as a viable sub-discipline of paleontology. Although his original interpretation that these Late Triassic locomotion traces were bird tracks was incorrect, he indirectly linked birds and dinosaurs. Other talented amateurs including John Collins Warren, James Deane, Dexter Marsh and Roswell Field worked on these track sites and some were prolific authors. Three major books have significance, Dr. John Collins Warren published his book Remarks on Some Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone Rocks of Connecticut River in 1854 making it the second book ever published exclusively on ichnology and the second American publication (and first American scientific publication) to be illustrated with a photograph, a salt print, used as the frontispiece depicting what he interpreted as the fossilized tracks of prehistoric birds. James Deane published a book in 1861 entitled Ichnographs from the Sandstone of Connecticut River containing photographs and etchings. Finally, Edward Hitchcock published The Supplement to the Ichnology of New England in 1865 that contained seven albumen prints by the professional photographer J. Lovell of Amherst. These volumes pioneered the use of photography in American scientific publications.