History
Courtroom sketches in the United States date back as far as the Salem Witch Trials during the 17th century. Courtroom sketch artists were present for the trial of abolitionist John Brown. By the mid-1800s there were well-known court artists and printmakers such as George Caleb Bingham and David G. Blyth. These sketches were reproduced as engravings in the print publications of the era, long before photography was a practical option for courtroom news coverage. Mass-publication of news photographs became more widespread in the 1950s, but courts were reluctant to allow either cameras or sketch artists in courtrooms since they were viewed as a distraction. Artist Ida Libby Dengrove protested these restrictions and gradually courtrooms began allowing sketch artists to work while seated in the public gallery during trials.
Cameras were first permitted in courtrooms in the United States in the mid-1980s. Since then, demand for courtroom sketches has declined. They are still used in some jurisdictions however, when cameras are not permitted inside courtrooms.
Read more about this topic: Courtroom Sketch
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.”
—Imre Lakatos (1922–1974)