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FROM SPECTATORS TO VISIONARIES:
VISUAL CULTURE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF BOSTON, 1820-1860
by
Justin Tyler Clark
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL,
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(HISTORY)
April 2014
Copyright 2014 Justin Tyler Clark
Object Description
| Title | From spectators to visionaries: visual culture and the transformation of Boston, 1820-1860 |
| Author | Clark, Justin Tyler |
| Author email | justincl@usc.edu;justintylerclark@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2014-04-25 |
| Date submitted | 2014-05-21 |
| Date approved | 2014-05-21 |
| Restricted until | 2016-05-21 |
| Date published | 2016-05-21 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Halttunen, Karen |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Ethington, Philip J. Rowe, John Carlos |
| Abstract | Between 1820 and 1860, the newly incorporated city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, cramped, haphazardly planned, poorly lit, and architecturally stagnant, provincial town, into a booming and visually impressive metropolis. Even as residents reveled in a vibrant new landscape of landmarks, art galleries, parks, museums, glittering shops and bustling streets, however, many among them—Transcendentalists, magnetic clairvoyants, Spiritualists, and blind autobiographers—sought out more ethereal visions of the invisible, infinite, and ideal. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of journals, sermons, periodicals, maps, architectural renderings, novels, and artworks, this dissertation relates two seemingly antithetical antebellum developments: spectacular urbanization and a popular preoccupation with the unseen. I argue that the visually congested, commercial, and competitive world of the antebellum city spurred Bostonians to look beyond the city, toward the sanctified realms of the imagination, nature, and even spirit‐land. ❧ The project is divided into two parts. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 analyze the efforts of local reformers in the 1820s and 1830s to promote moral and social order by constructing cleaner streets, public art exhibition spaces, and the nation’s largest market, tallest monument, and first public park. By teaching Bostonians to see ""correctly"" the architects of this didactic landscape hoped to suppress the materialism, sensualism, and worldliness they feared endemic to urban life. Yet this campaign provoked unintended consequences, as explored in chapters 4, 5, and 6. Starting in the mid‐1830s, a socially diverse range of visionaries attained fame by seeing past the city and its spectacular seductions. By describing and depicting those visions for an eager public, blind autobiographers, spirit‐drawing artists, magnetic clairvoyants, and other Bostonians sought social parity with more polished observers. In the process, Boston’s visual transformation re‐shaped the meaning of ""seeing"" in ways that went far beyond the more literal forms of spectatorship typically associated with the urban experience. |
| Keyword | Boston; urbanization; visual culture; Transcendentalism; spiritualism; blindness |
| Language | English |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Clark, Justin Tyler |
| Physical access | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-ClarkJusti-2525.pdf |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume8/etd-ClarkJusti-2525.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | FROM SPECTATORS TO VISIONARIES: VISUAL CULTURE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF BOSTON, 1820-1860 by Justin Tyler Clark A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HISTORY) April 2014 Copyright 2014 Justin Tyler Clark |
