[Album of Photographs of Electric Signs by the Gray Sign Company, Knoxville, Tennessee]

Unknown

1911 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Taken for granted in our digital age, electric signs were a modern marvel to city-dwellers at the turn of the twentieth century. Businesses drew crowds by outshining their competitors’ painted advertisements, and a city’s progress was measured in part by the brightness of its nightlife. This album of ninety-eight amateur and commercial photographs of electric signs was compiled as an internal record by the Gray Sign Company. It documents their booming business supplying glittering marquees across Tennessee, from Chattanooga to Nashville.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1911

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Saundra B. Lane Gift, 2005