No. 1022. View from Summer Street 1872

Curator: This stereograph, "No. 1022. View from Summer Street," was created by the Kilburn Brothers, likely shortly after the Great Boston Fire in November 1872. Editor: My first impression is of overwhelming devastation. Look at the sheer volume of rubble; it’s a landscape of ruin. Curator: Indeed. Stereographs like these played a vital role, disseminating images of the disaster widely. It shaped public perception, galvanizing support for reconstruction. Editor: And consider the materiality. The photograph itself, a mass-produced object, capturing the destruction of other materials—brick, wood, perhaps iron. It speaks to the cycle of creation and destruction inherent in industrial capitalism. Curator: Absolutely, and the photograph's reproducibility allowed the Kilburn Brothers to profit from disaster, creating a market for collective trauma. Editor: It's a potent image, capturing not just physical destruction but the disruption of material culture. Curator: It prompts us to examine the social and economic forces at play in both destruction and reconstruction.