Physical laboratory before 1890

Edward Hart made this black and white photograph of a ‘Physical Laboratory’ sometime in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. The image captures the stark, brick architecture of what appears to be a university science building. Images like this were often commissioned to promote institutions of learning. This was a period of intense debates around education, industrialization, and the role of scientific advancement. A photograph like this spoke to aspirations for national prestige, associating that prestige with the advance of scientific knowledge. The image also participates in the tradition of architectural photography. If we want to understand its role in social and institutional history, we might want to compare it with other photographs of university buildings from the same period. By considering the image as a historical document, we begin to see it in its full cultural context.