Biography:

James Cremer (1821-1893) was born in England, and moved to the United States when he was twenty-two. He worked for photographic supply companies in Boston and New York. Cremer established his own photographic supply company in Philadelphia. By 1860, he had a portrait studio and began to publish stereo views. Throughout the 1870s, he achieved great success as a stereographer, winning prizes and documenting important events and places in Philadelphia, such as the construction of City Hall and the Zoological Gardens in Fairmount Park. He eventually sold his studio and retired to Brooklyn, N.Y.