Escalante Cañon 1875

Editor: Here we have John K. Hillers' "Escalante Cañon," a vintage photograph. The textures of the canyon walls are incredible. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Consider how this stereograph was produced and consumed. Hillers worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. His images weren't primarily art; they documented resources for exploitation. Were these landscapes destined for preservation or extraction? Editor: So the photograph itself is a tool? Curator: Exactly. The materiality of this image, its production, and distribution, reveals a complex relationship between representation, resource management, and the transformation of the American West. What does it mean that these images are now in a museum? Editor: That really shifts my perspective!