Matthew Brady was born in Warren County, New York, in 1823. Matthew did not get much schooling time, but he was very good at artistic compositions and drawings. Matthew Brady worked in 2 towns when he was drawing; he worked in Saratoga and New York City, New York.

In 1843 Matthew opened a portrait studio in New York City. He took thousands of peoples' pictures. In 1850 he published a magazine with portraits of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and Abraham Lincoln. The magazine was called Gallery of Illustrious Americans. Matthew won a to prize metal in the New York City World's fair for exhibiting 48 of his pictures in the fair in 1855. A man named Alexander known for his collodian wet-plate processing field was brought to New York by Matthew to become the main photographer in Matthew's studio. Matthew became so successful that he opened a studio in Washington D.C. In 1860 after a decade of hard work, Matthew got married to Julia Handy.

Matthew Brady had a moustache, a pointed beard, he was 5 feet 6 inches tall, and he was hardly ever seen without a broad-brimmed flat hat and a linen duster topcoat.

At the time of the Civil War Matthew Brady asked President Lincoln and Alan Pinkerton if he could take pictures of the war. Matthew took over 3,500 pictures during the war. Some of the pictures he took were of actual battles, troops marching and resting, and individual soldiers and officers.

When the Civil War was over Matthew Brady wanted to get more money from his photographs of the war, but when he goy his reward from the government of 25,000 dollars he spent on unimportant things and almost got bankrupt. Matthew Brady kept his job in Washington D.C. but his poor eyesight and him drinking alcohol did not help him. In 1877, Julia, his wife died. Some friends in New York tried to help him, but he got pneumonia and died from it at age 73, on January 16, 1896.