First published in 2001. Making Culture Visible provides a fresh focus on the history of nineteenth-century photography. The narrative moves from a close focus on several selected events between 1847 and 1900, beginning with six industrial fairs of the 1840s-1860s to the looming presence of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in the mid-1870s. The last two chapters deal with the exhibition work of the Smithsonian Institution’s US National Museum in the 1880s and finally the collecting and displays of public libraries in the 1890s. The evolution of the increasingly complex social function of photography is clearly demonstrated.

This set of 11 volumes, originally published between 1946 and 2001, amalgamates a wide breadth of research on Art and Culture in the Nineteenth Century, including studies on photography, theatre, opera, and music. This collection of books from some of the leading scholars in the field provides a comprehensive overview of the subject how it has evolved over time, and will be of particular interest to students of art and cultural history.