John Benjamin Dancer was born in London in 1812. In 1835, John took over his father, Josiah’s, instrument-making business. He continued in business in Liverpool until 1841, when he entered into partnership with A. Abraham, a scientific instrument maker of Lord Street, Liverpool. He moved to Manchester to establish a branch of the business as Abraham & Dancer at 13 Cross Street. The partnership ceased in 1845. Dancer continued in business under his own name until 1878 when part of the business was transferred to his daughters Elizabeth Eleanor and Anna Maria. Dancer became well known for the quality of his microscopes and particularly for selling good-quality instruments at a relatively low price. He received several honours which reflected the high quality of his microscopes, including a prize medal at the International Exhibition in London. He was appointed Optician in Manchester to the Prince of Wales. Dancer also supplied apparatus, including a travelling microscope and thermometers, to James Prescott Joule in about 1844 for his work on the mechanical equivalent of heat. Joule described Dancer's thermometers as "the first which were made in England with any pretensions to accuracy". Dancer is perhaps best known for his photographic work, in particular on microphotography and the stereoscopic camera. He took the earliest known photograph of Manchester - showing the cutler's shop at 1 Market Street - in 1842. In February 1852, Dancer produced his first microphotographs. These were tiny photographs on microscope slides, which were viewed through a microscope or viewer. They soon became very popular. Dancer produced photographs of many subjects including eminent scientists, religious texts and sights such as Niagara Falls. Dancer's friend, Sir David Brewster, exhibited some of the microphotographs in Florence and Rome and showed them to the Pope. At the London Exhibition of 1862, Dancer received an honourable mention for his invention. In Dancer's lifetime, this technology only had a novelty value, but microfilming, as it is now known, became commercially important in the twentieth century as a means of copying documents. Dancer died in November 1887, while living with relatives in Birmingham. He was buried in Brooklands Cemetery in Sale, near Manchester. In 1960, the National Microfilm Association of the USA awarded the Dancer Pioneer Medal with the citation: "To John Benjamin Dancer, a man of strong character and immense energy; alert and practical, a skilled craftsman and manipulator; sympathetic, ever ready to help the youthful searcher, inventor of microphotography, the National Microfilm Association is proud to present this posthumous Medal of Meritorious Service to the microfilm industry."

Elizabeth Eleanor Dancer was one of the daughters of the scientific instrument maker John Benjamin Dancer. In 1878, on her father's retirement due to ill health, Elizabeth took over the operation of the microphotography aspect of her father's business, along with one of her sisters, A M Dancer. The sisters traded under the names E & A Dancer & Co and E E Dancer & Co, and supplied microphotographs taken from their father's original negatives. The sisters sold the business to Richard Suter in 1896.

Richard Suter was a well-known microscope dealer, based in London. In 1896, he purchased the business of Elizabeth Eleanor Dancer. The business consisted of the original negatives produced by John Benjamin Dancer for his microphotographs, and the remaining stock of microphotographs listed in Dancer's 1873 catalogue. In 1900, Suter produced an updated catalogue of the Dancer microphotographs. He did not produce new microphotographs from the original negatives, but instead focused on selling the remaining stock of microphotographs produced by Elizabeth Eleanor Dancer. Suter died in 1959, and the Dancer negatives and documents relating to Suter's purchase of the business passed to his sister, Mrs D Peirce.

The Royal Photographic Society Historical Group was set up in 1972. Its aim is to promote knowledge of the history of photography, and to encourage the preservation of photographs, photographic equipment and documents relating to the history of photography. The Group provides expert knowledge on the history of photography. Members include historians, academics, museum professionals, auction specialists, collectors, dealers, and general enthusiasts. Their interests range from particular photographers, aesthetic movements, cameras, processes and photographic technology.