I'm looking for information on the history of the nude/figure in
photography from 1839 - present, particularly information and the
biographies of the artists.  Examples/images of their work would be
helpful but not necessary.  I've already gone through rps.org and
about.photography.com.  Any timelines available would be helpful as
well.

hello photostudent-ga!
.
Google Answers have highlighted the editorial policy to Google
researchers:
.
“Homework Policy
To the best of your abilities, we'd prefer that you not post answers
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‘student’ in your -ga name seems to indicate it might be homework
related ; ) ... so consequently I have not chosen to answer the
question directly or elaborate on the history to avoid violation.
However I have researched for you some relevant web links so you can
distill from that the information you need, which seems to be the
purpose of your  question anyway. So I am treating this as a request
for links. I hope you can see the reasoning and do not rate my answer
down too much because of this : ) if you understand the boundaries
which researchers have to work within.

OK, you have already gone through rps.org and
about.photography.com.However did you see this article? 
http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa040300a.htm and related
resources
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The follow are some early Nude photographers
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In the 19th century many nude photographers chose to remain anonymous
so it is extremely difficult to source biographies of their work.
However this site below are a few documentanted photographersw with
short biographies.
I’ve tried to organise it into some chronological order to represent
some sort of timeline.

http://tallulahs.com/
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William (Guglielmo) Plüschow 1852 - 1930
http://www.tallulahs.com/vintit1.html
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Ernst Heinrich Landrock  1878 - 1966 
Rudolf Franz Lehnert  1878 - 1948
http://www.tallulahs.com/galerie.html
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Vincenzo Galdi active during 1880 to 1910
http://www.tallulahs.com/vintit4.html
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Louis-Amédée Mante 1826 - 1913
http://www.tallulahs.com/vintit18.html
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Léopold-Emile Reutlinger born 1863
http://www.tallulahs.com/reutlinger.html
.
Wilhelm von Gloeden 1856 - 1931
http://www.tallulahs.com/vintit7.html
.

Paul Nada born 1856 - 1939
http://www.tallulahs.com/nadar.html
.

Gaudenzio (Guglielmo) Marconi 1841-1885
http://www.tallulahs.com/vintit16.html
.

Stanislaus Julian Walery born during 1860’s - 1955
http://www.tallulahs.com/classicals.html
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Imogen Cunningham 1883 - 1976
http://www.westongallery.com/artists/i_cunningham/imogen_cunningham.html
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Helmut Newton 1920
http://www.ocaiw.com/newton.htm
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Bettina Rheims 1952
http://www.the-artists.org/eyestorm/bettinarheims.cfm


BOOKS
This book “Naked Women: the Female Nude in Photography from 1850 to
the Present Day” could be a useful source of info
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560253363/ref=ase_unblinkingeye/102-9434800-8091335
.
.
Erotique: Masterpieces of Erotic Photography 
“profiles the most fascinating and significant work in the
controversial field of erotic photography”

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560251689/allphotographycoA/102-9434800-8091335
.
Contempoary books
http://www.all-photography.com/cn_bookstore/cn_bookstore.html
.
OTHER RESOURCES

This directory give references to contemporary nude photographers
http://www.michelle7.com/directories/directories.htm
.
Fine Art Nudes
http://groups.msn.com/TorontoOntarioPhotographers/figurestudy.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=175&LastModified=4675297261087421654&pgmarket=en-ca
.
Nudes Masked
http://www.nudesmasked.com/looking.htm
.
Google Directory (contemporary)
http://directory.google.com/Top/Adult/Arts/Photography/Galleries/
.

Yahoo’s nude masters
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=nude&y=n&e=519&f=0%3A2766678%3A2718086%3A1%3A911832%3A7123%3A7332%3A519&r=Arts%02Visual+Arts%02Photography%02Photographers%02Masters
.

http://www.bigkugels.com/content/FemaleNudes.html
.
.

Here is a timeline for photography in general (not nude):
http://www.photo.net/history/timeline
.
General photography directories
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Photography/Resources/Directories/

Search Strategy:
.
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=vintage+master+nude+photographers
.
://www.google.com/search?q=Imogen+Cunningham&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&start=0&sa=N
.
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Helmut+Newton+gallery
.
http://www.teoma.com/search.asp?t=history+famous+nude+photographers&p=0&f=0&i=0&s=0&y=0&qcat=1&l=&qid=571C403C06F00347965396042FF2185A

.
After extensive searching for nude and erotic, the web is cluttered by
online photography book plugs, and mature content.
.
You may want to discuss the increased popularity of the male nude in
the late 20th century, work in colour, the blurring of fine art and
pornography and the use of digital techniques in this century.
.
Anyhow I hope that helps you in the right direction to some extent,
the books mentioned above will probably be your best resource for nude
fine art.
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I hope that helps

If you need any clarification please ask
.
kind regards
.
lot-ga
.

Hello lot-ga,

Thank you for the information you've provided.  I also appreciate your
explanation of the homework policy. I'm a mature aged student living
in Australia and the libraries here are fairly limited in providing
resource materials. You are correct in that it is homework but also
correct in assuming that I'm looking for resources rather than
answers.  Thank you for your broad spectrum of information as well as
providing me with insight as to how you did your search so that I'm
able to continue looking for resources based on some of the paths you
used or suggested. With exception of the Amazon and other book
companies as resources (shipping costs are outrageous), the
information was very helpful.  Thank you again.