Training the Eyes: Romantic Vision and Class Formation in Boston, 1830-1870

In the middle of the nineteenth century, romantic vision, the apprehension of the invisible or the ideal through a combination of mental and ocular vision, became a popular way for Americans to engage not only with the natural landscape, but with the city and city life. This project investigates why, in the spectacular world of the nineteenth-century city, Boston’s Transcendentalists, clairvoyants, blind autobiographers, naturalists, artists, photographers, and numerous others became invested in seeing more than meets the eye.