JEFF ROSENHEIM: When paper print photography takes over, it was primarily because people wanted to exchange pictures, to use them as other forms of illustration.

NARRATOR: Paper prints could be used to illustrate books and periodicals, and they could be glued into albums.

The album you see here was compiled by an amateur photographer in Philadelphia.

ROSENHEIM: And we can see photographic outings where the purpose of the outing was to make pictures to exchange with other picture makers.

NARRATOR: The photograph at bottom right shows a row of hobbyists, all making pictures of the same outdoor scene.

ROSENHEIM: They made their own photographs in their studios, and they were part of a society of collectors and image makers.

This is someone’s Instagram feed. But in this case, instead of it being digitally communicated, people got together in camera clubs and they literally shared pictures. And you kept what you liked and you mounted them with glue onto the pages of your albums and you discarded what you didn’t. This is the beginnings of social media right here in front of you.