Three Sisters 

Otto August Kühler made this print, entitled 'Three Sisters', using etching on paper. The locomotives in the image represent much more than simply a mode of transport. Locomotives became a potent symbol of American progress in the first half of the twentieth century. Kühler was well-placed to understand their cultural significance, working as he did as a design consultant for several railroad companies. We might consider how the print participates in what Leo Marx famously called ‘the machine in the garden’. It suggests a move away from agrarian ideals, and a new embrace of technology and industry. The print seems to celebrate the social and economic transformation of the machine age. In order to fully understand such an image, historians might consult company records or archival photographs of the locomotives themselves. This will help us determine the precise kind of social work this imagery performed at the time.