Bunker Hill Monument
1875/1900
Medium
Albumen print (carte-de-visite)
Dimensions
Image: 8.9 × 5.7 cm (3 9/16 × 2 1/4 in.); Card: 10.4 × 6.4 cm (4 1/8 × 2 9/16 in.)
Classification
carte-de-visite (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
33500
Art Historical Context
Step into the past with *Bunker Hill Monument* (1875/1900), a petite yet evocative albumen print captured by photographer Allen. This carte-de-visite—a pocket-sized photograph measuring just 8.9 × 5.7 cm—depicts the iconic 67-meter granite obelisk in Boston's Charlestown, commemorating the pivotal 1775 Battle of Bunker during the American Revolution. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography and Media Department, it exemplifies 19th-century photographic innovation. The albumen print process, using egg whites to bind light-sensitive silver salts to paper, produced the era's signatur...