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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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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,

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or one of the common ways in which they are used is

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that they're used in a way to, support text.

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So they're sort of just used as, as sort of window dressing

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or background work.

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The, what I think is being missed with photographs

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and environmental history is

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that they're not always being used as the primary source

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that's being interrogated.

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

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we love textual sources.

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They're very easy to dive into

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and to extract information from.

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Photographs on the other hand, take a bit more

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of extra work.

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They take a little more dissection to do.

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

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of work, but it is, photographs aren't the sort

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of backbone or even a, large pillar

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of environmental historians work.

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And I think it could, could easily be be that one

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of the challenges is, of course, is that a lot

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of inferences is needed to properly dissect a photograph,

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you need to do a lot of extra textual research

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to back up any kind of inferences

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or interpretations that you have of,

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of a historical photograph.

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You need to set it in context.

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You need to figure out who took the photograph,

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why they took the photograph, what kind of audience

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or publication was the photograph supposed to be used for.

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All of these, extra steps are used in,

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primary sources.

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So like, you always need to know who wrote a primary source

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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,

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photograph 'cause you need to figure it out

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for the photograph, but also all the textual documents,

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around that photograph.

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The blizzard of 1888 was essentially a large blizzard

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that hit the eastern seaboard of the United States

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and Canada, in March of 1888.

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So a fairly late blizzard, certainly by our modern,

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meteorological and weather standards.

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Um, and it was a,

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rather large storm even by today's standards.

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Um, it had knocked out,

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power lines and transportation infrastructure

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that connected most American

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and Canadian cities, in New York City.

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It dropped an estimated 21 inches of snow just sort

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of all at once and estimated

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to have killed about 200 New Yorkers directly

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or indirectly as a result of the storm.

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Um, things like, you know,

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downed electrical wires causing electrocutions, slips

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and falls, that sort of thing.

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Um, so it's an interesting event in terms of the magnitude

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of the storm, I would say two things.

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Uh, one is just a sheer amount of snow.

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There's plenty of photographs though of the blizzard of 1888

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to New York City and other major population areas.

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But so what stood out

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to me about this particular photograph was not the snow.

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It was actually all of the wired infrastructure, all

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of the wired infrastructure dangling from

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buildings and poles.

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And over the heads of curious onlookers down

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below, it stood out to me.

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'cause I think we exist in a modern world.

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Certainly if you live in a,

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very large metropolitan area like New York City

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or, Toronto, or London

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or Chicago, there's very little

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of this overhead wired infrastructure still left.

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Most of it has been buried underground over the decades.

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Um, so it is almost like a window into a alternate urban

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universe in which this kind of infrastructure still exists.

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And it can be kind of the window into what New Yorkers

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thought was, dangerous

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or spectacular about this event.

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Um, obviously the huge mounds of snow,

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but I think the, snow

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and ice covered wires actually make them more visible

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and more, dense looking.

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Um, and other photographs where it's just bare black wires,

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they sometimes blur together

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and create sort of this, haze that's hard

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to distinguish the individual wires.

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

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like a black and white photography.

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I find the, addition of snow

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and ice onto these wires creates more of a contrast

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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

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means to, you know, the, the people of the time.

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

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to be presented as a hazard.

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

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you can see what looks to be in, in the far sort of distance

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of the photograph down this street.

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You can see what looks to be holes

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and wires careening off onto the right

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and dangling over the street

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and, onto the neighboring buildings.

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Um, so I think in this sense,

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surrounded within the context of, the history

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of the infrastructure in the city

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where many city residents were complaining about them being

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eyesore or, dangerous hazards,

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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,

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dangling wires overhead are actually eye sores.

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They're hideous, but they're also dangerous.

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I mean, just over the last few years alone,

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in North America, there have been plenty of incidents

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of large winter storms knocking out whole power grids.

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Um, it's, it's been a while,

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but the, Texas power outage in, in 2020,

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that caused complete isolation

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and statewide power outage, caused a lot of people

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to reflect on the nature

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of the electrical grid in that state.

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Um, and I think in general, we take it

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for granted sometimes that there's going to be backups

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or that there's going to be, extra support structures

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or that we have, technicians

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and experts on hand during the event of large storms to

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repair and maintain these networks in

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a fairly speedy fashion.

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Um, such wasn't the case though in 1888,

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in 1888, these, poles, these damaged poles

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and wires, as well as just clearing the city streets

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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

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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

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yet, so I don't wanna divulge too much.

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

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to see how, utility polls

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or telephone polls act as kind of a confluence

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or an intersection of issues of local politics,

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as well as state

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and national politics, corporate economics

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and, civilian or citizenship ideas about what is

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or what is not a beautiful

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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.

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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

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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.

"Reevaluating the Role of Photographs in Environmental History: Beyond Window Dressing"

00:00:00 - 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. 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.
00:00:44 - 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 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
00:01:27 - 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. 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.
00:02:09 - 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, downed electrical wires causing electrocutions, slips and falls, that sort of thing.
00:02:50 - 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 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
00:03:30 - or Chicago, there's very little of this overhead wired infrastructure still left. 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

"Visualizing Urban Hazard: The Role of Infrastructure in Historical Context"

00:04:15 - 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 means to, you know, the, the people of the time. I think it's, certainly trying to be presented as a hazard.
00:04:54 - 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. 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,
00:05:38 - dangling wires overhead are actually eye sores. They're hideous, but they're also dangerous. 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 for granted sometimes that there's going to be backups or that there's going to be, extra support structures
00:06:21 - 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. 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,
00:07:03 - 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. 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,
00:07:42 - and national politics, corporate economics and, civilian or citizenship ideas about what is or what is not a beautiful 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.

"Evolution of Aesthetic Concerns in Urban Infrastructure: From Telephone Poles to 5G Towers"

00:08:24 - 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 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,
00:09:32 - 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 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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