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This print was one page within a broader edition of the Gleason's Pictorial weekly newspaper. As a result, this artifact was one of many identical prints of the newspaper. Because of the paper's instant success with the Boston community and its profitability, this print would have reached a wide audience throughout the city. In every sizable city, dozens of businesses beckoned customers with the promise of conversation, meals, a cup of coffee, lodging, books, and access to newspapers (Steffen 2003, p. 408). Many Bostonians would have had access to identical prints of this newspaper and socialized over it. Due to this, the print would have had a social context. Newspapers were viewed as a cultural resource of vital interest to the public (Steffen 2003, pp. 418-419). Thus, this print participated in the larger public phenomenon of information diffusion. Technological improvements allowed newspapers to affect mainstream political beliefs; newspapers would have had their own political virtues, and many papers would have had optimism about moral reform after coming out of the "Age of Reform" (Nord 2001, pp. 95-104). Heightened accessibility to newspapers allowed the public to engage with political and civic virtues. This print's portrayal of a reformed and recreational Boston Common endorses emerging transcendental philosophies about the benefits of urban access to recreational parks and natural landscapes. By exhibiting how genteel men enjoyed themselves on a recreational version of the Common, this print likely participated in civic engagement with the city's urban reform.
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1media/_s_a4Ab4Ac1BCd1BCe0f0g64hEAEAE1CDD2CAi2Dj0k64l1F4m1F4.jpgmedia/SmokersCircle.png2021-03-30T18:17:08-07:00Fahim Rahman0b280377f30c17097207ae611ccbb51f508ade0eSmoker's Circle, on Boston Common, 1854Fahim Rahman9plain2021-05-20T19:36:49-07:00Fahim Rahman0b280377f30c17097207ae611ccbb51f508ade0e
This page references:
1media/SmokersCircle_thumb.png2021-04-02T17:37:03-07:00Smoker's Circle, on Boston Common1Worcester, Fernando Edwards. Smoker's Circle, on Boston Common. Historic New England, 1852. Accessed March 23, 2021. https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/198344/.media/SmokersCircle.pngplain2021-04-02T17:37:03-07:00