Picturing Modern America:1880 - 1920.

Among the many ways that US society became modern between 1880 and 1920 was in the production and consumption of images. With the growth of new media technologies such as photography, chromolithography, film, and newspaper printing, Americans began to document and narrate visually their changing world as never before. And this occurred at a moment when how Americans pictured themselves was of increasing importance - a period of unprecedented immigration and migration that for many people threatened the very notion of who Americans were.