America and the Daguerreotype ed. by John Wood, and: The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science by M. Susan Barger, William B. White

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 425 lack of historical grounding is most troublesome during the lengthy section on the Erie Canal. Seelye does not acknowledge that, even before this canal opened, New York had used the auction system and good transatlantic shipments to overtake Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore in the quest for commercial supremacy. Certainly the opening ofthe Erie Canal strengthened the position of New York, but it was hardly the sole reason for its rank. In addition, some of the omissions are striking, particularly the shortage of material on the Southern canals. Except for the Potomac River, this region is almost completely ignored, especially with regard to steamboats and canals. In the bibliographic essay, Seelye states that he purposely chose to avoid footnotes, as he considers them disruptive to the flow of the story. Although he does refer the reader to the longer bibliographic essay from Prophetic Waters, all in all, this is an unfortunate omission. The lack of secondary material can leave the reader stranded, unable to tell whether Seelye has boldly rejected historical and technological literature or whether he is blissfully unaware of works by Drew McCoy, Sean Wilentz, Ronald Shaw, and others. In spite of these problems, there is much to recommend about this book, particularly the masterful blending of literature, art, and history with some engineering developments. Seelye reminds us ofthe close links between the fine and practical arts in the 19th century. He also reminds us in a bold fashion ofthe importance ofrivers in American development, economic and social. In his own way, he has produced an intriguing work, a cross between literary and transportation history. Although parts of it are simplistic, and the main themes get obscured, Seelye approached the topic from a unique angle, and offers an exciting, ifnot totally satisfying, version of rivers in American history. Frances Robb Dr. Robb is a historian with the Historic American Engineering Record, Mononga­ hela River Project, Homestead, Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the development of transportation systems in the Potomac River Valley and western Pennsylvania. America and the Daguerreotype. Edited by John Wood. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991. Pp xii + 273; illustrations, notes, bibliography. $65.00. The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science. By M. Susan Barger and William B. White. Washington, D.C.: Smith­ sonian Institution Press, 1991. Ppxvi + 252; illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, indexes. $60.00. America and the Daguerreotype, edited by John Wood, and The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science, by Susan Barger and William White, are the latest scholarly studies of the daguerreotype process. The daguerreotype was the first popular 426 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE form of photography, announced by the French science impresario François Arago in 1839. Both books are filled with beautifully reproduced photographs, and the Wood book with its 56 pages of plates might win itself a spot on a few coffee tables. Comparing these two daguerreotype history works is difficult, as their raisons d’être are totally different. The Wood book takes the traditional art historical approach to photohistory, analytical and esoteric without much in the way of primary historical evidence, while the Barger and White volume strikes out in a much different, somewhat less popular, direction, the history of science. There is one commonality that can be observed: along with most other photohis­ tory works, these are niche books. They are focused on one small aspect of photohistory with little to say to scholars outside the field. America and the Daguerreotype has offerings from eight authors. Despite the chaff from some mediocre contributions, it contains several interesting essays. An insightful article by Brooks Johnson has intriguing thoughts on occupational daguerreotypes. He argues that occupational imagery was popular because the photograph acted as a conversation piece in the Victorian parlor. This is an interesting notion and a modification of the usual concept that republican values and personal identification through occupation encouraged people to have themselves photographed with the tools of their trades. The only fault here is the lack of mention of the existing literature on occupational imagery. Johnson’s argument would be much stronger if made within the larger framework of the traditional explanation of this type of...