As a photographic historian and and general aficionado of all things photographic--especially pre-digital--I'm alway on the lookout for imagery that includes references to photography and its centrality in modern life. The blazing color illustration above, from a sheet music cover published in 1900, extols the wonders of electricity, trains, automobiles, sewing machines, telephones, photography, and other inventions. Their visual representations or symbols swirl around a lovely female figure, probably the goddess
Columbia. The view camera on a tripod at the right naturally represents photography, although its form may puzzle young people who take digital photographs with small cameras and cellular telephones. Significantly, the music is a "march and two step." Progress marches on!
David Haberstich, Curator of Photography
Archives Center
National Museum of American History
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