Detroit Publishing Co. , “John Greenleaf Whittier Funeral”, 1892

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John Greenleaf Whittier was a poet, abolitionist, editor and, to many, an American hero. This image memorializing his funeral was widely circulated in its time, the equivalent of a modern day portrait of John F Kennedy or Martin Luther King. It would have been posted in places of honor in people’s kitchens. It exists as albumen prints and colorized photo-lithograph post cards. The Detroit Publishing Company was one of the major image publishers in the world for nearly 30 years from 1895 to 1924

Detroit Publishing Co. , “John Greenleaf Whittier Funeral”, 1892

Nineteenth century images of crowds seem rare, basically because of the difficulty of having a mass of people be still long enough for the necessary time to expose the film which makes it all the more special.

The solemn mass of people have an organic presence like a bog, a jumble of horizontals in a V-shape vanishing to the rear.

It’s hard to understand the popularity of the image, maybe the event was more meaningful than we reckon with today.

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