well, in terms of photojournalism you
cannot go past this masterpiece...
its The Loyalist (shot during the Spanish Civil War), by Robert Capa... who is regarded along with Henri Cartier-Bresson as the fathers of modern photojournalism.
they started Magnum, with David īChimī Seymour and George Rodger.
as for the real history of straight photography, well iīm not much of a help, sorry.