A Cultural History of Objects in the Age of Industry

225 Pages·2022·4.115 MB·English

by  Carolyn White

A CULTURAL HISTORY
OF OBJECTS
VOLUME 5
A Cultural History of Objects
General Editors: Dan Hicks and William Whyte
Volume 1
A Cultural History of Objects in Antiquity
Edited by Robin Osborne
Volume 2
A Cultural History of Objects in the Medieval Age
Edited by Julie Lund and Sarah Semple
Volume 3
A Cultural History of Objects in the Renaissance
Edited by James Symonds
Volume 4
A Cultural History of Objects in the Age of Enlightenment
Edited by Audrey Horning
Volume 5
A Cultural History of Objects in the Age of Industry
Edited by Carolyn L. White
Volume 6
A Cultural History of Objects in the Modern Age
Edited by Laurie A. Wilkie and John M. Chenoweth
A CULTURAL HISTORY
OF OBJECTS
IN THE AGE
OF INDUSTRY
VOLUME 5
Edited by Carolyn L. White
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Carolyn L. White and contributors, 2021
Carolyn L. White has asserted her right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this work.
Series design by Raven Design
Cover image: Canned goods counter at Macy’s Department Store,
New York City, c.1898 © Bridgeman Images
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CONTENTS
List of iLLustrations vii
series Preface xi
Introduction 1
Carolyn L. White
1 Objecthood 15
Lu Ann De Cunzo
2 Technology 39
Timothy J. Scarlett and Steven A. Walton
3 Economic Objects 57
Cassie Newland
4 Everyday Objects 77
Dan Hicks
5 Art 89
Maggie M. Cao
6 Architecture 111
William Whyte
7 Bodily Objects 135
Diana DiPaolo Loren
vi CONTENTS
8 Object Worlds 155
Barbara J. Heath
notes 175
BiBLiograPhy 177
notes on contriButors 206
index 208
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
2.1 Newly created mid-level clerks developed objects to help manage
the flow of information in novel ways as the scale of industry grew.
F. Wolf’s time card from a day at the Union Foundry and Pullman
Car Wheel Works in 1886 shows that his 10.5-hour workday was
counted against two different contracted orders, indexed by their
numbers 44
2.2 Vernier External Callipers, with sliding Vernier scale, which
magnifies the increments of measurement by up to 3.8 times with
an accuracy of 0.001 inch with each adjustment. Made in London
between 1800 and 1825 by Holtzapffel and Company. Vernier
External Callipers, 1800–1825, object number 1930-172 46
2.3 Illustration of a large forge mill from a 1771 edition of Diderot’s
encyclopedia, showing the arrangement (top view) of structures
for power generation and transmission. Getty images 492654850 48
2.4 Models played a key role in technological education, broadly
defined, and these objects worked alongside drawings and text
descriptions in classrooms, in establishing patent claims, and for
inspiring aesthetic and technological admiration. Pictured is one of
Franz Reuleaux’s pedagogical models that demonstrates a universal
joint to transmit power at any angle. The model was built by
Gustav Voigt in 1882. Photograph: Jon Reis of object Q3 in the
Reuleaux Kinematic Mechanisms Collection at the Sibley School of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University 50
viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
2.5 Painting by John Ferguson Weir (1841–1926), The Gun Foundry
(1864–1868). Weir’s painting includes technical details he
developed through his many experiences at the West Point Foundry
including the careful depiction of the Rodman core cooling system
in use on the viewer’s right. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 50
3.1 Silvertown India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works in All
the Year Round, 1875. Courtesy of Getty images 64
5.1 Edouard Manet, L’asperge (Asparagus), 1880, oil on canvas, Musee
D’Orsay, gift of Sam Salz, 1959 90
5.2 John Singleton Copley, Mrs. John Winthrop, 1773, oil on canvas,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1931 92
5.3 Ammi Phillips, Mrs. Mayer and Daughter, 1835–1840, oil on
canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Edgar William and
Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1962 93
5.4 Currier & Ives, Four-in-Hand, 1861, hand-colored lithograph,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962 95
5.5 Albert Bierstadt, Donner Lake from the Summit, 1873, oil on
canvas, New York Historical Society, gift of Archer Milton
Huntington 97
5.6 Francis Edmonds, The Image Pedlar, c. 1844, oil on canvas,
New York Historical Society, gift of The New-York Gallery of the
Fine Arts 99
5.7 William Merritt Chase, Studio Interior, c. 1882, oil on canvas,
Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Carll H. de Silver in
memory of her husband, 13.50 102
5.8 William Harnett, The Faithful Colt, 1890, oil on canvas,
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The
Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund,
1935.236 103
5.9 John Haberle, Imitation, 1887, oil on canvas, National Gallery of
Art, New Century Fund, gift of the Amon. G. Carter Foundation 105
5.10 James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold, The Falling
Rocket, 1875, oil on panel, Detroit Institute of Art, gift of Dexter
M. Ferry, Jr 107
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
6.1 “Contrasted Residences for the Poor,” A. N. W. Pugin, Contrasts
(1841). Author’s collection 112
6.2 The Eiffel Tower. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 116
6.3 Glasgow University. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 119
6.4 Paris Opera House. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 123
6.5 Cologne Cathedral. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 128
7.1 Advertisement for Woodhead & Company’s Diamond Jet Blacking
shoe polish, showing two women discussing a man’s shiny boots,
with the Woodhead factory in the background, 1867 136
7.2 From Spaniard and Morisca, Albino Girl (De español y morisca,
albina), Miquel Cabrera 137
7.3 Buttons and lice comb from Fort Independence, Boston. ©
President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology 139
7.4 Glass vaginal syringes recovered from 27/29 Endicott St., Boston.
Originally published in Bagley (2016: 140), reproduced with
permission of the author 143
7.5 Nineteenth-century ceramic Prosser button excavated from
Harvard Yard. © President and Fellows of Harvard College,
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 144
7.6 Buttons recovered from Boston Industrial School for Girls.
Courtesy of the City of Boston Archaeology Program 145
7.7 “A Court for King Cholera,” Punch Magazine, October 1852.
Wellcome Collection. CC BY 147
7.8 Advertisement for Hood’s Sarsaparilla, The Boston Globe, Boston,
Massachusetts, March 30, 1895, Saturday 148
7.9 Fragments of a Hood’s Sarsaparilla bottle recovered from Harvard
Yard. © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 149
7.10 Advertisement for Pinaud’s perfumes, The Sydney Morning Herald,
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, February 9, 1877 152
7.11 Manofica ornaments in silver, bone, and coral. Verona, Italy,
nineteenth century. Wellcome Collection, Science Museum,
London. CC BY 153