Mathew Brady (1822-1896) was a well-known 19th century American portrait photographer and documenter of the American Civil War.

Early in the 1940s Mathew Brady learned the art of making daguerreotypes from Samuel Morse who brought knowledge of the photographic process to America from France in 1839. In 1844 Brady opened a studio in New York but moved to Washington D.C. in 1849. He is best known for his many portraits of notable individuals including Abraham Lincoln and his photographs documenting the American Civil War in which he and his employees created over 10,000 glass plate negatives. Brady financed the Civil War project himself with the anticipation the U.S. Government would want to purchase his negatives. He became bankrupt when Congress was willing to pay him only a forth of what it cost to produce the images. Brady died broke on January 15, 1896 following an accident with a streetcar. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.