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The Blizzard of 1888

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The Blizzard of 1888, which paralyzed New York City, was one of the most destructive snowstorms in American history. A photograph of a snow-blocked area near Wall Street, credited to The Brown Brothers, illustrates not only the immense snowfall, but also the omnipresence in that age of telephone poles and wires. Michael Feagan discusses the importanc eof the photograph here.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 29, 2024

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This video discusses the role of photographs in environmental history, noting that they are often used merely as supportive elements to textual narratives rather than being critically analyzed as primary sources themselves. Historians tend to favor textual documents, which are more straightforward to interpret, while photographs require additional effort for contextual understanding, including identifying the photographer, their intent, and the audience.

A specific historical event highlighted is the Blizzard of 1888, which severely impacted the Eastern U.S. and Canada, causing significant fatalities and infrastructure damage. The author reflects on a photograph from this event, emphasizing the visible overhead wires and poles, which represented both the hazards of the storm and the opinions of urban residents regarding such infrastructure. The blizzard's aftermath required lengthy cleanup efforts, contrasting with modern utility management practices.

The author also shares insights from ongoing research into the history of utility infrastructure, suggesting that similar issues regarding the aesthetics and safety of such installations continue to resonate today—evident in modern complaints about cell towers and attempts to disguise them. This video historical continuity illustrates persistent challenges regarding urban infrastructure and its impact on community perception and safety.

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Here are some articles that are similar in theme and subject matter to the video discussing the role of photographs in environmental history, the Blizzard of 1888, and the implications of utility infrastructure:

1. **"Framing the Past: The Role of Visual Media in Urban Environmental History"**
- This article explores the significance of photographs and visual media in understanding urban environmental history. It examines how images shape narratives about urban environments and the importance of critically analyzing visual documents.

2. **"The Blizzard of 1888: Weather, Infrastructure, and Urban Response"**
- This piece provides a detailed account of the 1888 blizzard, focusing on its impact on urban infrastructure and community response. It discusses the challenges faced during the cleanup and how this event influenced future urban planning and utility management.

3. **"Photographs as Historical Evidence: Beyond Supportive Narratives"**
- This article addresses the methodological challenges historians face when using photographs as primary sources. It argues for the value of visual evidence in historical research and suggests strategies for interpreting photographs critically.

4. **"Urban Infrastructure and Climate Events: Lessons from the Past"**
- This article draws parallels between historical climate events, like the Blizzard of 1888, and contemporary issues related to urban infrastructure. It discusses how past experiences inform current debates over the aesthetics and safety of urban utilities.

5. **"The Aesthetics of Infrastructure: Community Perceptions and Modern Challenges"**
- This article examines the relationship between urban infrastructure and community perceptions, with specific focus on how visual representation of infrastructure (like cell towers) impacts public opinion and debates over urban aesthetics.

6. **"Utility Infrastructure in Historical Perspective: The Intersection of Safety and Aesthetics"**
- This video analyzes the historical development of utility infrastructure, highlighting ongoing issues of safety and aesthetics in urban environments. It connects historical challenges with modern-day utility management and public perception.

7. **"Visualizing Disasters: How Images Shape Environmental Narratives"**
- This piece investigates how images from natural disasters, including blizzards, influence public understanding and historical narratives about environmental events. It stresses the need for historians to engage critically with visual sources.

These articles should provide a range of perspectives and analyses related to the themes of photography in history, urban infrastructure, and the legacy of environmental events.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.050 --> 00:03.175
Photographs in environmental history are used.

00:03.715 --> 00:06.295
Um, but they're often, one of the downsides, or,

00:06.315 --> 00:08.815
or one of the common ways in which they are used is

00:08.815 --> 00:13.575
that they're used in a way to, support text.

00:14.075 --> 00:16.735
So they're sort of just used as, as sort of window dressing

00:16.875 --> 00:18.535
or background work.

00:19.635 --> 00:22.705
The, what I think is being missed with photographs

00:22.705 --> 00:23.785
and environmental history is

00:23.785 --> 00:26.265
that they're not always being used as the primary source

00:26.265 --> 00:27.705
that's being interrogated.

00:28.575 --> 00:30.475
Um, I mean, historians, we love text,

00:30.895 --> 00:32.195
we love textual sources.

00:32.225 --> 00:34.355
They're very easy to dive into

00:34.775 --> 00:36.355
and to extract information from.

00:36.985 --> 00:39.835
Photographs on the other hand, take a bit more

00:39.835 --> 00:41.315
of extra work.

00:41.865 --> 00:44.035
They take a little more dissection to do.

00:44.225 --> 00:47.075
Certainly there are environmental historians doing that kind

00:47.075 --> 00:51.655
of work, but it is, photographs aren't the sort

00:51.655 --> 00:54.815
of backbone or even a, large pillar

00:55.315 --> 00:56.775
of environmental historians work.

00:56.915 --> 01:00.575
And I think it could, could easily be be that one

01:00.575 --> 01:02.695
of the challenges is, of course, is that a lot

01:02.695 --> 01:06.295
of inferences is needed to properly dissect a photograph,

01:06.715 --> 01:10.215
you need to do a lot of extra textual research

01:10.395 --> 01:12.215
to back up any kind of inferences

01:12.875 --> 01:14.655
or interpretations that you have of,

01:14.715 --> 01:16.215
of a historical photograph.

01:16.875 --> 01:18.295
You need to set it in context.

01:18.475 --> 01:21.615
You need to figure out who took the photograph,

01:21.715 --> 01:23.695
why they took the photograph, what kind of audience

01:23.755 --> 01:26.495
or publication was the photograph supposed to be used for.

01:27.075 --> 01:30.935
All of these, extra steps are used in,

01:31.315 --> 01:32.375
primary sources.

01:32.715 --> 01:35.655
So like, you always need to know who wrote a primary source

01:35.655 --> 01:37.735
and why, what kind of audience they had.

01:38.075 --> 01:41.295
But essentially you're kind of doubling the work with a,

01:41.295 --> 01:43.135
photograph 'cause you need to figure it out

01:43.135 --> 01:46.815
for the photograph, but also all the textual documents,

01:46.875 --> 01:48.375
around that photograph.

01:48.515 --> 01:51.975
The blizzard of 1888 was essentially a large blizzard

01:51.975 --> 01:54.655
that hit the eastern seaboard of the United States

01:55.075 --> 01:59.215
and Canada, in March of 1888.

01:59.215 --> 02:02.655
So a fairly late blizzard, certainly by our modern,

02:02.915 --> 02:05.015
meteorological and weather standards.

02:05.515 --> 02:08.975
Um, and it was a,

02:09.155 --> 02:12.335
rather large storm even by today's standards.

02:12.755 --> 02:16.615
Um, it had knocked out,

02:17.345 --> 02:19.935
power lines and transportation infrastructure

02:20.085 --> 02:21.975
that connected most American

02:22.195 --> 02:26.015
and Canadian cities, in New York City.

02:26.115 --> 02:30.135
It dropped an estimated 21 inches of snow just sort

02:30.135 --> 02:33.375
of all at once and estimated

02:33.555 --> 02:36.135
to have killed about 200 New Yorkers directly

02:36.135 --> 02:38.095
or indirectly as a result of the storm.

02:39.155 --> 02:40.855
Um, things like, you know,

02:40.855 --> 02:44.935
downed electrical wires causing electrocutions, slips

02:44.935 --> 02:46.095
and falls, that sort of thing.

02:46.635 --> 02:50.335
Um, so it's an interesting event in terms of the magnitude

02:50.475 --> 02:52.615
of the storm, I would say two things.

02:53.275 --> 02:55.735
Uh, one is just a sheer amount of snow.

02:55.925 --> 02:59.565
There's plenty of photographs though of the blizzard of 1888

02:59.585 --> 03:02.445
to New York City and other major population areas.

03:03.265 --> 03:04.605
But so what stood out

03:04.605 --> 03:07.805
to me about this particular photograph was not the snow.

03:07.905 --> 03:11.925
It was actually all of the wired infrastructure, all

03:11.925 --> 03:13.445
of the wired infrastructure dangling from

03:13.645 --> 03:14.765
buildings and poles.

03:14.765 --> 03:18.085
And over the heads of curious onlookers down

03:18.085 --> 03:19.685
below, it stood out to me.

03:19.845 --> 03:22.485
'cause I think we exist in a modern world.

03:22.485 --> 03:24.975
Certainly if you live in a,

03:25.045 --> 03:27.695
very large metropolitan area like New York City

03:28.115 --> 03:29.735
or, Toronto, or London

03:30.115 --> 03:32.375
or Chicago, there's very little

03:32.395 --> 03:35.495
of this overhead wired infrastructure still left.

03:36.165 --> 03:38.655
Most of it has been buried underground over the decades.

03:39.645 --> 03:43.545
Um, so it is almost like a window into a alternate urban

03:44.265 --> 03:47.585
universe in which this kind of infrastructure still exists.

03:48.005 --> 03:52.185
And it can be kind of the window into what New Yorkers

03:52.815 --> 03:56.185
thought was, dangerous

03:56.605 --> 04:00.305
or spectacular about this event.

04:00.845 --> 04:03.185
Um, obviously the huge mounds of snow,

04:03.805 --> 04:07.905
but I think the, snow

04:07.925 --> 04:10.905
and ice covered wires actually make them more visible

04:11.245 --> 04:14.905
and more, dense looking.

04:15.565 --> 04:18.305
Um, and other photographs where it's just bare black wires,

04:18.305 --> 04:19.625
they sometimes blur together

04:19.965 --> 04:22.705
and create sort of this, haze that's hard

04:22.705 --> 04:24.785
to distinguish the individual wires.

04:25.005 --> 04:26.145
But yeah, that's correct, sort of in

04:26.145 --> 04:27.225
like a black and white photography.

04:27.305 --> 04:29.665
I find the, addition of snow

04:29.665 --> 04:32.825
and ice onto these wires creates more of a contrast

04:32.825 --> 04:36.705
between sort of the, the wires, the poles and,

04:36.765 --> 04:40.065
and the surrounding landscape In terms of, I think what it

04:40.675 --> 04:44.065
means to, you know, the, the people of the time.

04:44.765 --> 04:49.225
Um, I think it's, certainly trying

04:49.225 --> 04:50.545
to be presented as a hazard.

04:51.525 --> 04:54.535
Like this is a dangerous sort of scenario that's in,

04:54.555 --> 04:58.055
you can see what looks to be in, in the far sort of distance

04:58.055 --> 04:59.415
of the photograph down this street.

04:59.475 --> 05:01.455
You can see what looks to be holes

05:01.475 --> 05:04.135
and wires careening off onto the right

05:04.595 --> 05:05.935
and dangling over the street

05:05.995 --> 05:09.095
and, onto the neighboring buildings.

05:09.835 --> 05:13.175
Um, so I think in this sense,

05:13.655 --> 05:16.775
surrounded within the context of, the history

05:16.775 --> 05:18.055
of the infrastructure in the city

05:18.545 --> 05:21.415
where many city residents were complaining about them being

05:21.685 --> 05:26.615
eyesore or, dangerous hazards,

05:27.235 --> 05:29.775
should a storm or anything knock them down.

05:30.655 --> 05:34.135
I think in many ways this photograph is trying to,

05:34.195 --> 05:37.735
be presented as proof of these sorts of claims that these,

05:38.275 --> 05:41.615
dangling wires overhead are actually eye sores.

05:41.615 --> 05:43.255
They're hideous, but they're also dangerous.

05:43.855 --> 05:46.775
I mean, just over the last few years alone,

05:46.775 --> 05:49.095
in North America, there have been plenty of incidents

05:49.095 --> 05:51.975
of large winter storms knocking out whole power grids.

05:52.115 --> 05:54.775
Um, it's, it's been a while,

05:54.875 --> 05:58.445
but the, Texas power outage in, in 2020,

05:58.445 --> 06:00.205
that caused complete isolation

06:00.345 --> 06:04.205
and statewide power outage, caused a lot of people

06:04.205 --> 06:05.725
to reflect on the nature

06:05.725 --> 06:07.525
of the electrical grid in that state.

06:08.305 --> 06:11.485
Um, and I think in general, we take it

06:11.625 --> 06:13.965
for granted sometimes that there's going to be backups

06:13.965 --> 06:17.845
or that there's going to be, extra support structures

06:17.905 --> 06:20.965
or that we have, technicians

06:21.065 --> 06:24.765
and experts on hand during the event of large storms to

06:25.305 --> 06:27.725
repair and maintain these networks in

06:27.885 --> 06:28.965
a fairly speedy fashion.

06:29.585 --> 06:34.285
Um, such wasn't the case though in 1888,

06:34.325 --> 06:38.925
in 1888, these, poles, these damaged poles

06:38.925 --> 06:42.205
and wires, as well as just clearing the city streets

06:42.225 --> 06:46.085
of all the snow was a multi-day affair.

06:46.825 --> 06:51.445
Um, if anything, the slightly warming temperatures,

06:51.595 --> 06:54.245
shortly after the blizzard helped out with this a lot.

06:54.475 --> 06:56.325
Well, as you sort of correct this, it is been a,

06:56.325 --> 06:58.365
it's been a while since I've, I've put this,

06:58.465 --> 07:03.045
put this writing up and, I have been sort of steadily

07:03.105 --> 07:05.485
as, as kind of a, back burner project.

07:05.715 --> 07:09.045
I've been working on, histories of infrastructure

07:09.905 --> 07:13.085
and more specifically histories of like telephone poles

07:13.105 --> 07:14.165
and utility poles

07:14.165 --> 07:17.765
and overhead wires, for quite a few years now.

07:18.265 --> 07:22.005
Um, nothing I, I wouldn't say nothing is a publishable state

07:22.065 --> 07:23.765
yet, so I don't wanna divulge too much.

07:24.425 --> 07:29.375
But, suffice to say I think is incredibly fascinating

07:29.375 --> 07:32.575
to see how, utility polls

07:32.575 --> 07:35.735
or telephone polls act as kind of a confluence

07:35.735 --> 07:40.175
or an intersection of issues of local politics,

07:41.185 --> 07:42.365
as well as state

07:42.365 --> 07:45.365
and national politics, corporate economics

07:46.185 --> 07:51.165
and, civilian or citizenship ideas about what is

07:51.225 --> 07:54.045
or what is not a beautiful

07:54.305 --> 07:56.565
or ideal urban landscape to live in.

07:57.105 --> 07:59.605
It has issues of urban environment, economics,

07:59.605 --> 08:01.965
and politics all mixed in with this sort

08:01.965 --> 08:05.565
of technological problem of what is to be done

08:05.565 --> 08:07.885
with our critical electrical infrastructure.

08:08.985 --> 08:12.645
Um, and I think if anything, over the past few years,

08:12.715 --> 08:14.085
what I've, what I've learned more is

08:14.085 --> 08:15.805
that these issues are still incredibly present.

08:16.625 --> 08:20.085
Uh, that these aren't issues that are present in,

08:20.085 --> 08:22.045
just the late 19th or early 20th century.

08:22.075 --> 08:23.925
They have continued with us

08:24.585 --> 08:26.605
as our electrical infrastructure has grown.

08:27.315 --> 08:32.045
I've seen, modern complaints about, you know, again,

08:32.045 --> 08:34.045
this is also a very 2020 phenomenon,

08:34.045 --> 08:36.285
people complaining about like 5G

08:36.645 --> 08:37.925
cellular towers and whatnot.

08:38.465 --> 08:43.205
And I think a lot of that, impulse,

08:43.285 --> 08:45.045
a lot of the critique of them

08:46.285 --> 08:49.035
stems from their physical appearance in the same way

08:49.035 --> 08:51.355
that 19th century Americans critique

08:52.115 --> 08:53.195
telephone poles and wires.

08:53.215 --> 08:54.435
It stems from a physical,

08:54.855 --> 08:56.925
Uh, appearance and they discussed with it.

08:57.745 --> 09:00.845
Uh, but it's fascinating to see some ways in which American

09:01.395 --> 09:05.085
communities and corporations are tackling that problem by,

09:05.865 --> 09:07.605
essentially dressing them up.

09:07.785 --> 09:11.685
Um, I've seen instances of cellular towers being made

09:11.685 --> 09:14.205
to look like giant cactuses,

09:14.585 --> 09:16.405
and all these other sorts of strategies.

09:16.405 --> 09:18.285
People in the 19th century had strategies

09:18.285 --> 09:20.565
of intentionally putting creeping ivy

09:20.565 --> 09:24.325
and vines onto poles, to try and mask

09:24.325 --> 09:27.045
and hide them, painting them,

09:27.155 --> 09:29.845
putting restrictions on size and amount of wires.

09:29.865 --> 09:31.885
All these sorts of things were made to try

09:32.165 --> 09:34.685
and make urban landscapes more palatable.

00:00 - Photographs in environmental history are used. but they're often, one of the downsides, or, or one of the common ways in which they are used is that they're used in a way to, support text. So they're sort of just used as, as sort of window dressing or background work.

00:19 - The, what I think is being missed with photographs and environmental history is that they're not always being used as the primary source that's being interrogated. I mean, historians, we love text, we love textual sources. They're very easy to dive into and to extract information from. Photographs on the other hand, take a bit more of extra work.

00:41 - They take a little more dissection to do. Certainly there are environmental historians doing that kind of work, but it is, photographs aren't the sort of backbone or even a, large pillar of environmental historians work. And I think it could, could easily be be that one of the challenges is, of course, is that a lot of inferences is needed to properly dissect a photograph, you need to do a lot of extra textual research to back up any kind of inferences

01:12 - or interpretations that you have of, of a historical photograph. You need to set it in context. You need to figure out who took the photograph, why they took the photograph, what kind of audience or publication was the photograph supposed to be used for. All of these, extra steps are used in, primary sources. So like, you always need to know who wrote a primary source and why, what kind of audience they had.

01:38 - But essentially you're kind of doubling the work with a, photograph 'cause you need to figure it out for the photograph, but also all the textual documents, around that photograph. The blizzard of 1888 was essentially a large blizzard that hit the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada, in March of 1888. So a fairly late blizzard, certainly by our modern, meteorological and weather standards. and it was a,

02:09 - rather large storm even by today's standards. it had knocked out, power lines and transportation infrastructure that connected most American and Canadian cities, in New York City. It dropped an estimated 21 inches of snow just sort of all at once and estimated to have killed about 200 New Yorkers directly or indirectly as a result of the storm. things like, you know,

02:40 - downed electrical wires causing electrocutions, slips and falls, that sort of thing. so it's an interesting event in terms of the magnitude of the storm, I would say two things. one is just a sheer amount of snow. There's plenty of photographs though of the blizzard of 1888 to New York City and other major population areas. But so what stood out to me about this particular photograph was not the snow. It was actually all of the wired infrastructure, all

03:11 - of the wired infrastructure dangling from buildings and poles. And over the heads of curious onlookers down below, it stood out to me. 'cause I think we exist in a modern world. Certainly if you live in a, very large metropolitan area like New York City or, Toronto, or London or Chicago, there's very little of this overhead wired infrastructure still left.

03:36 - Most of it has been buried underground over the decades. so it is almost like a window into a alternate urban universe in which this kind of infrastructure still exists. And it can be kind of the window into what New Yorkers thought was, dangerous or spectacular about this event. obviously the huge mounds of snow, but I think the, snow and ice covered wires actually make them more visible and more, dense looking.

04:15 - and other photographs where it's just bare black wires, they sometimes blur together and create sort of this, haze that's hard to distinguish the individual wires. But yeah, that's correct, sort of in like a black and white photography. I find the, addition of snow and ice onto these wires creates more of a contrast between sort of the, the wires, the poles and, and the surrounding landscape In terms of, I think what it

04:40 - means to, you know, the, the people of the time. I think it's, certainly trying to be presented as a hazard. Like this is a dangerous sort of scenario that's in, you can see what looks to be in, in the far sort of distance of the photograph down this street. You can see what looks to be holes and wires careening off onto the right and dangling over the street and, onto the neighboring buildings.

05:09 - so I think in this sense, surrounded within the context of, the history of the infrastructure in the city where many city residents were complaining about them being eyesore or, dangerous hazards, should a storm or anything knock them down. I think in many ways this photograph is trying to, be presented as proof of these sorts of claims that these, dangling wires overhead are actually eye sores. They're hideous, but they're also dangerous.

05:43 - I mean, just over the last few years alone, in North America, there have been plenty of incidents of large winter storms knocking out whole power grids. it's, it's been a while, but the, Texas power outage in, in 2020, that caused complete isolation and statewide power outage, caused a lot of people to reflect on the nature of the electrical grid in that state. and I think in general, we take it

06:11 - for granted sometimes that there's going to be backups or that there's going to be, extra support structures or that we have, technicians and experts on hand during the event of large storms to repair and maintain these networks in a fairly speedy fashion. such wasn't the case though in 1888, in 1888, these, poles, these damaged poles and wires, as well as just clearing the city streets of all the snow was a multi-day affair.

06:46 - if anything, the slightly warming temperatures, shortly after the blizzard helped out with this a lot. Well, as you sort of correct this, it is been a, it's been a while since I've, I've put this, put this writing up and, I have been sort of steadily as, as kind of a, back burner project. I've been working on, histories of infrastructure and more specifically histories of like telephone poles and utility poles and overhead wires, for quite a few years now.

07:18 - nothing I, I wouldn't say nothing is a publishable state yet, so I don't wanna divulge too much. But, suffice to say I think is incredibly fascinating to see how, utility polls or telephone polls act as kind of a confluence or an intersection of issues of local politics, as well as state and national politics, corporate economics and, civilian or citizenship ideas about what is or what is not a beautiful

07:54 - or ideal urban landscape to live in. It has issues of urban environment, economics, and politics all mixed in with this sort of technological problem of what is to be done with our critical electrical infrastructure. and I think if anything, over the past few years, what I've, what I've learned more is that these issues are still incredibly present. that these aren't issues that are present in, just the late 19th or early 20th century.

08:22 - They have continued with us as our electrical infrastructure has grown. I've seen, modern complaints about, you know, again, this is also a very 2020 phenomenon, people complaining about like 5G cellular towers and whatnot. And I think a lot of that, impulse, a lot of the critique of them stems from their physical appearance in the same way that 19th century Americans critique

08:52 - telephone poles and wires. It stems from a physical, appearance and they discussed with it. but it's fascinating to see some ways in which American communities and corporations are tackling that problem by, essentially dressing them up. I've seen instances of cellular towers being made to look like giant cactuses, and all these other sorts of strategies. People in the 19th century had strategies

09:18 - of intentionally putting creeping ivy and vines onto poles, to try and mask and hide them, painting them, putting restrictions on size and amount of wires. All these sorts of things were made to try and make urban landscapes more palatable.

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