DescriptionThe purpose of this thesis is to track the development of American visual culture over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century to identify the impact of the photography of the construction of the transcontinental railroad on the way American culture producers imagined their Western Frontier. Through a close analysis of the style, form, and function of various visual artifacts from early-modern and modern American artists, I have come to the conclusion that the photography of the transcontinental railroad played a substantial role in transforming the American visual culture to celebrate the machine, find safety in the institutions of government and capitalism, and champion the greater industrialization of the American nation. The results of this thesis provide strong evidence that not only did the transformation of the visual culture play a large role in shaping American modernity, but it did so by reimagining America’s Western Frontier.