(Chicago Fire) William Shaw, The Great Conflagration of Chicago, Jumbo Albumen Panoramic Photograph

Description

A jumbo composite panoramic albumen photograph entitled THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION OF CHICAGO / OCTOBER 8^TH AND 9^TH, 1871. / The Business and Residence Portion of the City in Ruins / REFER TO THE KEY. 

Four Albumen Photographs placed together in a slight arc (i.e. geometric curve) to produce a panoramic view of the burnt section of Chicago just after the Chicago Fire. The view is looking North from about Harrison Street.  Just below is placed a title board, with the whole laid on a large backing board.

Two keys flank the title, overall bearing over 30 titled numbers that relate to corresponding numbers placed in the photograph itself.  Each number identifies a building, church, street, dock, pier, crib, lighthouse, or landmark, e.g. “booksellers’ row” or “the Lighthouse.”  The key numbers placed inside the photographs were etched into the original glass plates.

Shaw further marked the negative of the last albumen photo in white — with his name, address, and copyright, plus identifying the areas of “Lake Park,” “Michigan Terrace—the pride of the city,” and several of the streets.

This right-hand photo might also be historically important, as the last image taken shows the railroad trestle which had extended into the lake from Park Street (just out of the image) going North to the terminal at near today’s Water Street.  Soon after these pictures were taken, the rubble from the Fire was pushed into the lake itself, forming Chicago’s front yard, Grant Park – and thus destroying the trestle which had been so prominent in lithographs showing Chicago from a lake view. The trestle was used to bring Lincoln’s casket to shore for his Chicago funeral. It was later extended north to intersect with the Chicago River. Shaw also photographed Lincoln twice in the summer of 1860 in Springfield. 

Shot five days after the Chicago Fire, Shaw was trying to portray an artistry in his documentation of the ruins; careful examination reveals that Shaw re-angled the camera at times to satisfy both.  Mostly likely, Lesley’s Illustrated hired Shaw to record the damage for its woodcutters use in presenting that ruin to the nation.

Caption Reads: “Photographed by Shaw, 137 Twenty-Second Street, Special Agent of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News.”

(Chicago Fire). William Shaw Jumbo Albumen Composite Photograph. Printed by F. H. Massie, Twenty-Second Street.  38” x 14-1/2” overall; each photograph approximately 9-1/4” x 6-1/4”.