The American Antiquarian Society's photograph collection includes over two hundred tintypes. Tintypes, also known as ferrotypes or melainotypes, were produced from the mid-1850s until as late as the mid-1930s. They were less expensive and more durable than either daguerreotypes or ambrotypes, and quickly became the most popular form of early photography. The image consists of a collodion positive fixed to a thin plate of varnished iron. The name "tintype" is derived from the tin shears used to cut the image from a larger sheet.