Senate

Nineteenth Century American Photography Congress Hall Saratoga and United States Senate Chamber Stereoviews

ref. 11304Two nineteenth-century stereoview photographs of Congress Hall Saratoga Springs and the United States Senate Chamber circa 1860s-1870s preserve paired photographic views of two very different public environments: one associated with the federal government in Washington and the other with the expanding resort culture of Saratoga Springs New York. The Senate Chamber image records an interior of the U.S. Capitol during the period in which stereoscopic photography became a widely circulated means of visually experiencing important national sites; the U.S. House notes that Capitol stereoviews were popular souvenirs and common fixtures in middle-class parlors during the second half of the nineteenth century. The Saratoga view belongs to the visual culture of a resort community nationally known for its mineral springs hotels and leisure economy and a related Stereoscopic Gems of Saratoga Congress Hall image is preserved in the Library of Congress record. Together the photographs support research into nineteenth-century tourism architectural photography political space visual culture and the commercial circulation of stereoscopic imagery. Two stereoview cards. Circa 1860s-1870s. One sepia-toned stereoview identified as No. 530 depicts Congress Hall Saratoga Springs New York from the Stereoscopic Gems of Saratoga series; the card bears paired photographic images approximately 6 x 3 inches overall. The second sepia-toned stereoview depicts the United States Senate Chamber and is credited to J. F. Jarvis Stereoscopic Views. A comparable Senate Chamber view in the U.S. Senate Collection is attributed to John F. Jarvis and dated circa 1855-1875 while another Jarvis stereograph of a Senate interior held by the Library of Congress is dated circa 1875. Congress Hall was part of Saratoga Springs' nineteenth-century resort landscape and stereoscopic series devoted to Saratoga circulated views of its hotels springs and associated architecture to visitors and collectors. The pairing is particularly useful for examining how stereography made geographically distant civic and leisure spaces visually accessible to domestic audiences. The Capitol image situates viewers within the architectural environment of federal political power while the Saratoga image records a major resort setting from a period when Saratoga Springs was developing a national reputation as a destination for health recreation and elite social life. Because the precise publication dates of these specific cards are not supplied they should not be described definitively as Civil War-era without further evidence from the mounts or publisher imprints. Some surface soiling; otherwise no significant defects are noted. Very good. A complementary pair of nineteenth-century stereoviews documenting the visual culture of American government and resort tourism. unknown books

Max Rambod Inc. · United States$90.00≈ €80.56

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