As facts and not as shadows: four American architects and their travel impressions

This dissertation examines American architectural and social history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the material culture of study abroad. Focusing on sketchbooks, journals, drawings, correspondence, and photographs of three generations of architects, the study will explore attitudes toward European cultural hegemony, the perceived value of foreign travel, changes in architectural education in the United States, and the process of image-making in the age of photography. Although the idea of observing and drawing existing monuments is rooted in the tradition of the Grand Tour and the heritage of architectural theorists dating back to Vitruvius, this essay will argue that the practice took on new meaning during a period of expansion, urbanization, and industrialization in America, c. 1850 through the 1930s. Using case studies of Frank Miles Day, Eleanor Manning, William Jarrett Hallowell Hough, and Louis Skidmore, I have investigated historical, social, and scientific epistemologies, including visual theory, of the period, and the ways in which they affected the education and professional status of American architects. My dissertation also asks why architects continued to draw after photography became commonplace, and why study abroad remained de rigueur even when the first schools of architecture were established in America. In the conclusion, I have discussed the role of hand-drawing in the modern architectural office, and how the use of computer technology is altering architectural practice.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Henrietta F. Sablov