A Nationalizing Power

"Picture to yourself if you can a society which comprises all the nations of the world ... people differing from one another in language, in beliefs, in opinions; in a word a society possessing no roots, no memories, no prejudices, no routine, no common ideas, no national character ... What is the connecting link between these so different elements? How are they welded into one people?" (by Alexis de Tocqueville, 1831)

1. Penny Press of James Gordon Bennett

Benj. Day 1833, Horace Greeley, R. Hoe's new presses
Penny Press

2. Telegraph of Samuel F. B. Morse

"What hath God wrought!" sent from Washington DC to Baltimore in Morse code on May 24, 1844
"medium is the message" = McLuhan's theory: media are extensions of man; instantaneous ("make happen") not reflective ("make aware"); they integrate and involve
medium also becomes monopoly = H. Sibley's Western Union 1856 vs. C. Field's American Telegraph 1858
Atlantic cable first laid 1858 but failed until 1866
Bennett's AP 1866; E. Cornell's monopoly contract 1867
Telegraph of Samuel Morse

3. Politics of Andrew Jackson

Imbert, Akin create new symbols for new political parties
political lithographs of the 2nd party System

4. Novels of James Fenimore Cooper

rise of publishers, magazines, urban bookstores
Godey's Ladies Book from Hope Greenberg, with sheet music

5. Songs of Stephen Foster

Foster and the rise of popular songs such as Oh! Susanna
Minstrel show, plantation songs, Civil War

6. Schoolbooks of William McGuffey

spelling book by Noah Webster, McGuffey "Eclectic Readers"
Ohio public schools led the rise of mass, standardized public education
William McGuffey page from Univ. of Virginia

7. Art of Thomas Cole

Hudson River School of Thomas Cole, Asher Durand
Landscape artists Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church
Genre artists W. S. Mount

8. Lithographs of Currier & Ives

national myths mass-produced and mass-consumed
Currier & Ives

9. Photography of Mathew Brady

The first photographs came from Joseph Niepce 1826, but kept secret
Most influential was Louis Daguerre in France August 19, 1839
a confirmation of reality; a means to overcome barriers; a symbol of self and national identity; a product to satisfy consumer expectations

Links:

Daguerreotypes

America's First Look into the Camera: Dageurreotype Portraits and Views 1839-1864 and Civil War Photographs from the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress
Secrets of the Dark Chamber, The Art of the American Daguerreotype and Mathew Brady's Portraits from the Smithsonian
Digital Daguerreian Archive from Greg Walker
The Daguerreian Society has pictures in its Gallery and essays in its Resources, including "A Thumnail History of the Daguerreotype" by Kenneth E. Nelson and "The Daguerreotype Process" from Scientific American.

Essays:

"Whitman's Daguerreotypes: Objects of Democratic Union" by Timothy Stifel
Social Construction of the American Daguerreotype Portrait a senior thesis from Ben Mattison

Articles:

Marwil, Jonathan. "Photography at War," History Today 50, June 2000, p 30-38.
Zeller, Bob. "War in 3D," Civil War Times Illustrated 38, May 1999, p28-35.

Yahoo index for Photography History and photojournalism

Images of Glory is episode 3 of the documentary series West of the Imagination from PBS, featuring the work of geologist Clarence King, artist Albert Bierstadt, photographer William Henry Jackson

Eadward Muybridge: Motion Studies is a laserdisc from Voyager, showing stop-frame images from one of the pioneers of the motion picture

American Renaissance - Samuel Morse - Digital Revolution - Hoaxes

revised 9/16/02 | Class Page | Links | articles