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The Daguerreotype is the earliest

Popularity
During his time in Paris in 1839, inventor of morse code Samuel Morse had heard of the daguerreotype process, and had written a letter describing the process to his brother, Sidney. Sidney, being the editor of the New York Observer, published Samuel's letter on the newspaper, which was the first publication of the invention in America.

Reasons for popularity
There is no definitive reason for why daguerreotypes were so popular. Donald D. Keyes believes that the process' widespread use in America was because it added a "truly democratic dimension to American art", due to the process being very cheap to execute.