Contesting Images: Photography and the World’s Columbian Exposition by Julie K. Brown

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 1045 swayed by the assertion that “small ‘branded’ dealers and indepen­ dents alike have existed in every period but hardly flourish. . . . Such ‘mom and pop’ arrangements subsist but in decided disadvantage to the bigger entrepreneur” (p. 198). Although the major oil companies (and the publications they supported) apparently did not wish to draw attention to them, during the 1920s and 1930s the landscape was suffused with many so-called split pump stations (featured in numer­ ous noncorporate postcard views) that sold upward of four different brands of gasoline at the same time. Jakle and Sculle offer only brief reference to such stations, and I discerned no attempt to discuss this once (relatively) common type of facility within a larger analytic framework. On a more personal level, I vividly recall that during the pre—oil embargo 1960s, by far the most popular gas station in my suburban Boston town was “Tony’s,” a gritty mom-and-pop store on a local thoroughfare. The store nominally sported an Esso sign, but, as Tony never hesitated to tell customers (or several of my teenage friends who worked for him), he marketed gasoline delivered by whatever refinery/distributor offered the best deal. Tony sold his product (gas­ oline and oil only, no other services except for candy bars, bread, and milk) at a discount and, despite the lack of overt corporate design treatments, did year-round, land-rush business serving an eager sub­ urban clientele—the station was by far the busiest in town. Perhaps my recollections of Tony’s are filtered through a prism of youthful remembrance. But it also may be that Jakle’s and Sculle’s fervor to explore the broader significance of “place-product-packaging,” espe­ cially as it relates to national marketing initiatives, fosters a perspec­ tive of their overall subject that inappropriately marginalizes an estab­ lishment like Tony’s. Minor reservations aside, The Gas Station in America stands as a major work of scholarship that, quite rightfully, will constitute the measure for all future research in the field. It is handsomely pro­ duced, clearly written, and suitable for a wide audience of serious readers. Donald C. Jackson Dr. Jackson teaches history at Lafayette College. Contesting Images: Photography and the World’s Columbian Exposition. By Julie K. Brown. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994. Pp. xvi+ 185; illustrations, notes, glossary, appendix, bibliography, in­ dex. $60.00 (cloth); $27.50 (paper). Julie Brown’s model case study takes an original approach to a much-discussed event. Brown tracks photography at the 1893 Colum­ bian Exposition from the subject of technological display to its ap­ pearance within exhibits and discusses the many photographers, of- 1046 Book Reviews technology and culture ficial and unofficial, whose images documented the fair. Brown uses photography to analyze the fair and the social forces that created it and, more important, she is also able to follow the fair’s legacy as its contradictions continue to inform familiar institutions, such as the Smithsonian museums, and the practice of documentary image mak­ ing as it appears in museums, and in the media, today. Brown’s success comes in large part from her skillful application of current theoretical arguments by scholars such as John Tagg, Donna Haraway, Janet Wolff, and Alan Sekula, historical studies by Alan Trachtenberg and Lawrence Levine, and an impressive array of pri­ mary source materials. Most engaging of all, Brown has found a his­ torical vantage point that allows us to view the fair at close range without becoming mired in its many familiar conflicts. Instead of siding with a fortunate victor (or the unlucky losers), she has recast the story in terms of the contest in which each competitor played a part. After the 1876 Centennial’s splendid Photographic Pavilion, the assignment of photography to the exposition’s Liberal Arts Hall in an exhibition category shared with time clocks and other instruments of precision seemed demeaning to contemporary photographers. But visitors could see that if photographic technology had lost status, pho­ tographic images had gained. Photographs were everywhere: in na­ tional exhibition spaces, photographs promoted products and accom­ plishments; in large categorical sections, photographic images filled displays. One visitor...