America of the late 1800s had two types of rich
families—the old rich and the new rich. Families such
as the Cabots, Lowells, Roosevelts, Drexels, and Wentworths
populated each city and had "status and respectability
that the newcomer envied and could not attain" (McDonald
581). The nouveau riche, such as Andrew Carnegie (steel), John
D. Rockefeller (oil), and John W. Gates (barbed wire) craved
recognition and legitimacy. Marriage and philanthropy were two
ways to wiggle into a higher station. Conspicuous consumption
(so named by economist Thorstein Veblem) was the most common
To display their superiority, the newly rich "built mansions,
they bought private railroad cars, they ate prodigiously, they
flaunted their silks and furs and diamonds for the public to
see" (McDonald 582).
It is interesting to note that there is little difference between
the Currier and Ives' print of a mansion and the real thing.
In this case, the popularity of such prints was probably not
derived so much from a looking backward as a looking forward.
The newly rich came from the pools of common man; therefore
any man could rise up and live in such a house. In a strange
way, prints such as these reaffirm the democratic ideal, and
in doing so fit the model of nostalgia.
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