Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Views of electric light plant and electric light inside Hoosac Tunnel

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05235.01 Author/Creator: Place Written: Hoosac Tunnel Type: Photograph Date: 1893 ca. Pagination: 5 cyanotypes. Order a Copy

Lot includes three different views of the exterior of this very early electric light plant; view of two employees and dynamo inside the plant; and an intriguing view of an electric light in operation inside the tunnel! The technical difficulties of taking photographs indoors were formidable during the 1890s, yet here, the Fitchburg photographer produced two tremendous interior views. The "high tech" machinery inside the power plan must have been the pride of the railroad, but the electric light illuminating the tunnel was the cutting edge. Early documentation of the use of electric lighting in an unusual industrial setting.

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