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The mass-circulation national illustrated weeklies, which devoted prime space to the fire for
the next several weeks, included graphic accounts and moving feature stories, but were
especially important as the country's first major source of visual images of the fire. These
four covers deal with key aspects of the event in chronological order: the panic in the
streets, the gatherings of refugees, the cityscape of ruins, and the rebuilding. Upper left:
the cover of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper for October 28, captioned, "The Great
Fire in Wells Street--The Terrified Populace in Front of the Briggs House, which has just
caught fire--from a sketch by our special artist." Upper right: Harper's Weekly of the
same date, "The great fire in Chicago--group of refugees in the street--drawn by C.S.
Reinhart." Lower left: Harper's Weekly of November 11, "The ruined churches of
Chicago" (based on photographs by Chicago photographer William S. Shaw). Lower
right: Every Saturday for December 23, "Rebuilding Chicago." Like the reporters, the
illustrators were not above approaching the issue of historical accuracy with some latitude,
either imagining how things might have been, collapsing events into each other, or making
things up. In the last illustration, the reconstruction is already in full swing as William D.
Kerfoot posts his famous sign.
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