Portret van Elizabeth Barrett Browning naar een medaillon

Archer learned the calotype process from Dr. Hugh W. Diamond (1809-1886) in 1847 and then set up a portrait studio in London, England. He was a founding member of the Photographic Club of London, also known as the Calotype Club, in 1847. In 1851 Archer invented the wet collodion on glass process and offered it free of patent to the public. It became the most widely used photographic process until 1870. In 1854 Archer took a series of pictures of Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, England. He also photographed the counties of Kent, Cambridgeshire and Staffordshire in 1856 and 1857.