The year is 1893. Chicago is hosting the world. At the World’s Columbian Exposition, over 65,000 exhibits are strewn over 630 acres of the Midway Plaisance and Jackson Park. Structures erected specifically for the Chicago World’s Fair showcase technological advancements, including one poised to reshape the world—photography.
“A new technological medium, such as photography in the mid-19th century, can change our world profoundly,” said Marc Maillot, the associate director and chief curator of the University of Chicago’s Institute of the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC). “Chicago museums house some of the most important collections of 19th-century photography in the world.”
On the eve of photography’s 200th anniversary, the special exhibition Staging the East: Orientalist Photography in Chicago Collections showcases photography displayed at the Fair and the depths of the ISAC’s photographic archives—more than 100,000 negatives documenting the Institute’s excavations and research in the Middle East and North Africa since 1892.
The exhibition also highlights UChicago’s significant contributions to this history with loans from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center and the Smart Museum of Art.
“These images record endangered or even vanished monuments and landscapes, allowing fruitful comparison with our time and the increased threats that cultural heritage is facing today,” said Maillot, who curated the exhibition. “This collection is oftentimes the only source of information left for researchers.”
Photography’s Origins
Maillot first encountered the ISAC’s scholarship and extensive photo archives as a graduate student at Sorbonne University, in Paris.
“I had this project in mind for many years,” said the archaeologist, who has conducted fieldwork in Sudan since 2007.
The exhibition also highlights photography’s early days as a medium. The first permanent photograph was taken in 1826; the daguerreotype, the first publicly available photographic method, was introduced in 1839.
By the start of the Chicago World’s Fair, photography’s popularity had only ballooned in size. For the Fair’s estimated 27 million visitors, the diverse array of photographs exhibited would be their first and only glance at ancient monuments across the globe.
Staging the East sheds light on a specific subset of photography: archaeological photography.
“In the 1930s, when universities and museums conducted expeditions on a massive scale, ISAC teams worked in nearly every country of West Asia and North Africa,” said Maillot. “An integral part of each excavation team was the photographer, who captured the day-to-day life of the expedition alongside the ongoing scientific work.”
Coinciding with the improvement of photographic methods, archaeological photography hit its stride in the latter half of the 19th century. When James Henry Breasted, founder of the ISAC, embarked in 1905 on the first UChicago expedition of Egypt and Nubia, a region which includes part of modern Sudan, he brought along with him a photographer to document artifacts, monuments and inscriptions.
Breasted himself was no stranger to photography. His camera, which he also used to document the ISAC’s archaeological work, can be seen in Staging the East. From 1905-07, this survey captured over a thousand negatives.
In addition to Breasted’s camera, on display are prints of monuments including the Roman ruins in the city of Baalbek, in today’s Lebanon. Whether from earthquakes or military conflicts, Baalbek’s Temple of Jupiter and Temple of Bacchus have been under threat multiple times throughout their 2,000-year history, making any form of visual documentation potentially priceless.
Just as photography changed the world, newer technologies like AI are set to do the same.
“I think we are facing a similar period today with artificial intelligence and the question it raises for the digital humanities,” reflected Maillot. “In our field, this new medium will radically modify our practices, whether excavating archaeological sites, deciphering ancient languages or even the epistemology of our discipline.”
Looking forward
Before coming to the ISAC, Maillot served as director of the French Unit in the Sudan National Museum. Now in Chicago, this experience has shaped the way he approaches his role as chief curator.
“I learned that in such complex situations, cultural heritage was one of the best things to bring people from various communities together,” said Maillot, “each one drawn by a common memory that could foster a sense of belonging around a cultural hub: the museum,”
He believes the ISAC has a pivotal role to play in marking the upcoming 2026 bicentennial of the invention of photography. Staging the East comes on the eve of this milestone.
Aside from celebrating the emergence of a revolutionary technology, Maillot also wants to deepen the ISAC’s relationship with the larger Chicago community. To him, the ISAC’s role as a place of learning and community engagement is equally important to its position as one of the world’s leading research centers.
“We need to think as a city, meaning that connections with other museums, research institutions and the contemporary art scene should be reinforced concretely.”
The ISAC Museum is free to visitors, with a suggested admission fee for non-members and non-UChicago affiliates of $15. Staging the East is open until August 17th. Visiting the special exhibit costs no extra fee.
