Philadelphia possesses an exceptionally large number of places that have almost disappeared—from workshops and factories to sporting clubs and societies, synagogues, churches, theaters, and railroad lines. In Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City, urban observers Nathaniel Popkin and Peter Woodall uncover the contemporary essence of one of America’s oldest cities. Working with accomplished architectural photographer Joseph Elliott, they explore secret places in familiar locations, such as the Metropolitan Opera House on North Broad Street, the Divine Lorraine Hotel, Reading Railroad, Disston Saw Works in Tacony, and mysterious parts of City Hall.
Much of the real Philadelphia is concealed behind facades. Philadelphia artfully reveals its urban secrets. Rather than a nostalgic elegy to loss and urban decline, Philadelphia exposes the city’s vivid layers and living ruins. The authors connect Philadelphia’s idiosyncratic history, culture, and people to develop an alternative theory of American urbanism, and place the city in American urban history. The journey here is as much visual as it is literary; Joseph Elliott’s sumptuous photographs reveal the city's elemental beauty.

Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City

Arts & Photography

Elliott, Joseph E. B.

Popkin, Nathaniel

Woodall, Peter

Photography & Video

Temple University Press

In Exchange for Gold: The Legacy and Sustainability of Artisanal Gold Mining in Las Juntas de Abangares, Costa Rica

Gold has been mined in the area surrounding the small Costa Rican town of Las Juntas for over 100 years. In the beginning, large-scale North American mining companies exploited the people who worked for them. Today the large-scale mining operations are gone, but the old tunnels are still worked by local artisanal miners or coligalleros as they are called in this town. Conditions in the mines are even more dangerous. Minors process the gold using mercury in their own backyards along the rivers, threatening their own health as well as the ecology and public health of this community and that on a global scale. This book documents the linkage between the human experience and ecology of Las Juntas through the words of a natural scientist and the images produced by a documentary photographer. The photographs are not meant to illustrate or support the text, but rather tell the same story in a different way. This type of collaboration between a scientist and an artist is rare, but is essential for truly understanding the give-and-take among a cultural heritage, social condition, and the ecology of an area. This is a case study that both honors this community and its rich culture and history, and serves to increase awareness of the environmental and human implications of gold extraction by adding a personal element to this story. It also examines sustainable approaches to protecting the environment, and the needs of individuals and communities whose heritage and livelihood come from this activity.

Niesenbaum, Richard A.

Common Ground Research Networks

Aware of the decline and imminent demise of many integrated steel mills in the United States and fascinated by their monumental architecture, machinery, and the culture of work, Joseph Elliott photographed the mills in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from 1989 until final shutdown. Working with historian Lance Metz, he amassed more than 1,000 large format photographs and hundreds of archival images and documents, in an effort to preserve a record of the development, workings, and human dimensions of an integrated steel plant typical of machine age America.
A steel mill is a visually thrilling place, and Elliott’s meticulously designed photographs embody much more than a technical record. The scale, architecture, and material qualities of the site are compelling referents for an audience of the post-industrialage. An essay by art historian Betsy Fahlman situates Elliott’s work in the context of the industrial sublime. This book will appeal all who are fascinated with industrial art and archaeology, and will be an inspiration for the preservation and re-use of these relic structures.

The Steel: Photographs of the Bethlehem Steel Plant, 1989-1996

Columbia College Chicago Press

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Books by Elliott, Joseph E. B.