Albert Knox Dawson (September 20, 1885 – February 17, 1967) was an American photojournalist and film correspondent who covered World War I with the German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian Armies.
Albert Knox Dawson was born in Vincennes, Indiana, on September 20, 1885. He was the oldest son of Thomas A. Dawson and Lida T. Knox. His father was a local bank officer, contractor and real estate manager.[1]
At an early age, Dawson began experimenting with taking pictures. Out of his fascination with photography grew a professional career as a cameraman.
Albert Dawson was among the most active American photographers during World War I. In July 1917, he was among the first photographic officers who received a commission in the U.S. Signal Corps, together with Edwin F. Weigle of the Chicago Tribune and photographer Edward J. Steichen. Dawson was promoted to Captain in November 1917 and put in charge of building the new military photographic laboratory in Washington, D.C. Dawson was also instrumental in training the first official American war photographers.[4]
After the war, Dawson worked in the tourist trade for the American Express Company. Albert Dawson died in New York City on February 17, 1967. He was buried at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
Various segments from Dawson's war footage have been found by authors Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham while researching their book American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918.[5]
While following the Austro-Hungarian army at the Eastern Front in the summer of 1915, Dawson produced this motion picture report on the Russian trench system that has partly been retrieved by the authors at the nitrate film vaults of the Library of Congress.[6]
Footage shot by Albert K. Dawson on the eastern front, 1915
Kevin Brownlow, The War, The West and The Wilderness (London/New York 1979)
Ron van Dopperen, "Shooting the Great War: Albert Dawson and the American Correspondent Film Company, 1914-1918", Film History vol. 2 (1990), 123–129.
Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham, "Film Flashes of the European Front: The War Diary of Albert K. Dawson." Film History vol. 23 (2011), 20–37.
Ron van Dopperen and Cooper C. Graham, Shooting the Great War: Albert Dawson and the American Correspondent Film Company (Charleston, SC 2024, 7th printing) ISBN978-1-4909-4466-1
James W. Castellan, Ron van Dopperen, Cooper C. Graham, American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918 (New Barnet, 2014), doi:10.2307/j.ctt1bmzn8c
Cooper C. Graham and Ron van Dopperen, “Roger Casement on Screen: the Background Story on an Historical Film Opportunity”, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, online edition 2016, https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2015.1100386
