Education, Popular Culture: United States. New York. New York City. Cooper Union: Agencies Promoting Assimilation of the Immigrant. Imparting American Standards to the Foreign Born: The Cooper Union, New York City: Audience - December 20, 1903 c. 1904

Editor: This photograph by Percy Byron, taken in 1903, captures an audience at The Cooper Union. The sheer number of people is striking! What can you tell us about the materials used to create this image and its original purpose? Curator: The photographic process itself is key here. It was a mass-reproducible medium, perfectly suited to disseminating images that reinforced specific social agendas. The photograph's very existence documents and thus participates in the assimilation process. Editor: So, it's not just *of* assimilation, but *part* of it? Curator: Exactly. The image, in its materiality, becomes a tool of cultural production. Its widespread distribution shaped public opinion about immigration. Thinking about the materiality and social context helps us understand its true power. Editor: That's fascinating. I hadn't considered the photograph itself as an active agent. Thanks!