A spatial interface to twenty essays on the objects and themes of the exhibit as well as the objects and landmarks
More informationThe important landmarks that stood at this important Broadway intersection over time and by site
More informationA look at the technical processes along with the men and women who made all these cultural commodities in New York
More informationHannah Wirta Kinney
Claire McRee
Kelsey Brow
Andrew Gardner
Kirstin Purtich
Kirstin Purtich
Claire McRee
Laura Kelly-Bowditch
Kelsey Brow
Virginia Fister
Martina D’Amato
Zahava Friedman-Stadler
Virginia Spofford
Virginia Spofford
Martina D'Amato
Virginia Fister
Andrew Gardner
American, artist unknown
Chatham Square
1853–55
Daguerreotype
3 1/2 × 4 3/4 in. (8.9 × 12.2 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005, 2005.100.173
This daguerreotype captures downtown’s Chatham Square, a busy scene marked by the commercial signage at the corner of Chatham and Pearl Streets. Known for low-priced shopping and entertainment, Chatham’s establishments contrasted with Broadway’s elite attractions. This photographer likely worked from the second story of one of the area’s several competitive daguerreotype studio-factories. Although the distant blur of traffic, pedestrians, and omnibuses may indicate the work of an amateur daguerreotypist, this view is historically significant as one of a few surviving images of New York street life before the Civil War.
— Zahava Friedman-Stadler