Almost there --- Lizzie Bourne Monument 1855 - 1875

Curator: Oh, this silver print photograph, "Almost there – Lizzie Bourne Monument," dating from about 1855 to 1875 and attributed to the Kilburn Brothers, draws me in immediately. There's a stillness and a vastness, almost a lonely grandeur, to the image. Editor: My eyes are instantly drawn to the tangible elements: the wooden railway tracks, the rough-hewn stone cairn, and the lone figure perched on the rail. It’s like a study in contrasting textures and the labor of ascent. Curator: Ascent is the perfect word. I feel a literal reaching for something, that “almost there” feeling hangs in the air. What is that figure thinking, feeling, up on that solitary rail? Editor: Right, but more importantly, I'm thinking about how this photograph was produced. Silver print photography demanded a specific process, a meticulous preparation of materials, and the exploitation of light. Consider the physical and chemical processes required to create this image. Curator: Agreed, and it’s in that physicality that I find the connection to memory and memorialization. We know Lizzie Bourne died on Mount Washington. That stone monument, created and kept, acts as an attempt to grapple with mortality itself, frozen in time, and duplicated here. Editor: The materiality extends beyond the photographic process. We see human intervention shaping the landscape: the railway for mechanized ascent and the piled stone, possibly built by manual labor. It poses questions about access, transformation, and the ways humans engage with challenging terrain. Curator: It's true, there's a narrative woven into every material choice. The rigid track is such a contrast to the seeming softness and organic nature of the rugged landscape it is set on, giving a powerful sense of determined but relentless progress. It speaks of pushing boundaries, physically and perhaps spiritually. Editor: Well said. Looking at the way all those elements – wood, stone, silver – come together provides a lens through which to understand 19th-century ambition, technological advancement, and even memorialization practices. Curator: Ultimately, this photograph remains a poignant invitation to reflect on what "almost there" really means—on a mountain, in grief, in life. Editor: Yes, by focusing on its making and material reality, we understand how this particular photograph encapsulates not only artistic vision but technological progress and social history as well.