The Exhibition Network, 1850
Commentary
This network graphic is drawn from a database of the correspondence surrounding the Exhibition of 1851 for the year prior to the Exhibition, 1850. In contrast to the Raphael Collection network, what we see here is a large and complex web of correspondents, a result of the enormity of the task that faced those involved in the genesis of the Great Exhibition. Like the Raphael Collection network, certain figures emerge as particularly important; however, one of the prominent features of this network and its correspondence is the forwarding of letters, creating chains of correspondents. This feature was particularly visible in the early stages of producing the network graphic, but as the scale of the network grew, it became, by nature, ever more difficult to discern these chains amidst the meshwork of activity.