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Timothy H. O'Sullivan was an important 19th-century American photographer known for his work documenting the Civil War and American West. Starting as a civilian photographer attached to the topographical engineers, O'Sullivan copied maps during the Civil War. After his famous Civil War series, he began working in the West. He served as the official photographer with the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, known as the King Survey, from 1867-1869. From 1871 to 1874 he continued with George M. Wheeler's survey west of the 100th meridian. O'Sullivan contributed significantly to the visual history of the American frontier and the documentation of geological and topographical knowledge during that period. More recently his photographs have been recognized as works of art that transcended their initial reception primarily as visual documents.