Book ID: CBB001320948

Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad (2013)

unapi

Willumson, Glenn (Author)


University of California Press


Publication Date: 2013
Physical Details: x + 242 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
Language: English

"The construction of the transcontinental railroad (1865-1869) marked a milestone in United States history, symbolizing both the joining of the country's two coasts and the taming of its frontier wilderness by modern technology. But it was through the power of images--and especially the photograph--that the railroad attained its iconic status. Iron Muse provides a unique look at the production, distribution, and publication of images of the transcontinental railroad: from their use as an official record by the railroad corporations, to their reproduction in the illustrated press and travel guides, and finally to their adaptation to direct sales and albums in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Tracing the complex relationships and occasional conflicts between photographer, publisher, and curator as they crafted the photographs' different meanings over time, Willumson provides a comprehensive portrayal of the creation and evolution of an important slice of American visual culture." -- Publisher's description.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Norris Pope (Spring/Summer 2014) Review of "Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad". Railroad History (pp. 106-107). unapi

Review Grant, H. Roger (2014) Review of "Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad". American Historical Review (p. 185). unapi

Review Yochelson, Bonnie (2014) Review of "Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad". Journal of American History (p. 275). unapi

Review Yochelson, Bonnie (2014) Review of "Iron Muse: Photographing the Transcontinental Railroad". Journal of American History (pp. 275-276). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320948/

Similar Citations

Book Beegan, Gerry; (2007)
The Mass Image. A Social History of Photomechanical Reproduction in Victorian London (/isis/citation/CBB001201134/)

Book Thomas Stubblefield; (2015)
9/11 and the Visual Culture of Disaster (/isis/citation/CBB335939933/)

Book Anthony F. Arrigo; (2014)
Imaging Hoover Dam: the Making of a Cultural Icon (/isis/citation/CBB752609542/)

Book Jackson, Donald C.; (2013)
Pastoral and Monumental: Dams, Postcards, and the American Landscape (/isis/citation/CBB001321155/)

Book Wallace, Maurice O.; Smith, Shawn Michelle; (2012)
Pictures and Progress: Early Photography and the Making of African American Identity (/isis/citation/CBB001550214/)

Essay Review Gordon, Tammy S.; (2013)
Visual Agency: The Photograph as and Instrument for Change (/isis/citation/CBB001567163/)

Book Shaoling Ma; (2021)
The Stone and the Wireless: Mediating China, 1861–1906 (/isis/citation/CBB089452995/)

Book Fieschi, Caroline; (2008)
Photographier les plantes au XIXe siècle: la photographie dans les livres de botanique (/isis/citation/CBB000950234/)

Article Hoffmann, Christoph; (2009)
Representing Difference: Ernst Mach and Peter Salcher's Ballistic-Photographic Experiments (/isis/citation/CBB000932175/)

Article Kate Addleman-Frankel; (2022)
At the Cutting Edge of Halftone Printing: William Augustus Leggo and George Edward Desbarats (/isis/citation/CBB946995740/)

Book West, Nancy Martha; (2000)
Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia (/isis/citation/CBB000501918/)

Article Buse, Peter; (2007)
Photography Degree Zero: Cultural History of the Polaroid Image (/isis/citation/CBB001181520/)

Article David Guise; (2006)
The Evolution of the Warren, or Triangular, Truss (/isis/citation/CBB170662984/)

Book David D. Morrison; (2018)
Long Island Rail Road: Main Line East (/isis/citation/CBB032434560/)

Book Geoff Bender; Rasmus R. Simonsen; (2021)
Photography’s Materialities: Transatlantic Photographic Practices over the Long Nineteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB105087553/)

Book Craig A. R. Campbell; (2014)
Agitating Images: Photography Against History in Indigenous Siberia (/isis/citation/CBB600511423/)

Thesis Nystrom, Eric Charles; (2008)
Learning to See: Visual Tools in American Mining Engineering, 1860--1920 (/isis/citation/CBB001560707/)

Book Warner, John Harley; Edmonson, James M.; (2009)
Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine, 1880--1930 (/isis/citation/CBB000960150/)

Book Ann-Janine Morey; (2014)
Picturing Dogs, Seeing Ourselves: Vintage American Photographs (/isis/citation/CBB818895674/)

Authors & Contributors
Thomas Stubblefield
Kate Addleman-Frankel
Ma, Shaoling
David Guise
Rasmus R. Simonsen
Craig A. R. Campbell
Concepts
Visual representation; visual communication
Photography
Technology and culture
Photographs
Popular culture
Cameras
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
21st century
Places
United States
London (England)
China
Canada
Siberia (Russia)
Great Britain
Institutions
Long Island Rail Road Company
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment