Science Through the Lens: Historical Photographs, Unexpected Narratives, and the Reframing of American Science

Science Through the Lens: Historical Photographs, Unexpected Narratives, and the Reframing of American Science

Historical photographs of scientists and scientific activities are rarely utilized by historians of science to interpret the past. When they are, they often serve as potted plants, illustrating arguments derived from traditional written sources—even though evidence in photographs sometimes challenges such historical narratives.  Historians of photography have similarly left unexplored historical photographs of scientific work, even though many offer important clues to social, political, and cultural issues and dynamics. Yvette Andrews produced a distinct photographic narrative of Gobi Desert dinosaur fossil hunts (sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History in New York) than her better-known husband, the paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews (revealing ways that his photographs supported narratives of heroic explorers exciting to museum donors). Well over a hundred images of science laboratories, classrooms, and scientific activities were made by Roy Stryker’s famous team of photographers when their focus shifted from Farm Security Administration documentation to producing images for the Office of War Information (OWI) amid World War II. During the early Cold War, photographs of scientists were deliberately promoted by US Information Agency officials to support positive narratives of American culture. For us, now, they tell additional, unexpected stories.

Fresh insights emerge when we explore the history of American science through photographs. Science appears more democratic and inclusive than current written accounts suggest. More women were active in field work at the turn of the twentieth century: Mary Vaux Walcott, wife of Smithsonian Secretary Charles Walcott, is revealed as a full participant in his extensive paleontological expeditions; and female students helped excavate dinosaur bones in Wyoming (1912). Shutterbug photographers—professional scientists with an amateur passion for photography—employed subtle product-filled images to fund solar eclipse expeditions and to grow private entrepreneurial ventures. A 1942 Arthur Rothstein photograph of a Black Atlanta University chemistry student--featured prominently in the widely distributed OWI pamphlet Negroes and the War--infuriated Southern politicians and launching a firestorm nearly shuttered the OWI, while providing fresh insights into the vitality of graduate scientific training amid the wartime South. 

With fellow historian of science Pamela M. Henson (now historian emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution), I am writing a book that expands our understanding of American science, drawing on our reviews of dozens of photographic archival collections. A closely related issue: which historical photographs circulated at the time they were made, and which have remained largely unknown until now?  Publishers, editors, and news services paid careful attention to available photographs and (as gatekeepers) shaped public perceptions of science from the late nineteenth century forward. This talk surveys emerging stories and interpretations–and touches on the challenge of likely available materials for writing the history of science in the 21st century.

All welcome.  

We look forward to you joining us on 23rd Oct!

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