LESTER C. OLSON is Professor of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh, where he specializes in public address, rhetoric, and visual culture. His books include Emblems of American Community in the Revolutionary Era: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology (1991) and Benjamin Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology (2004). His book on Franklin was recognized with awards from the Rhetoric Society of America and the National Communication Association, the two largest communication and rhetoric societies in the United States. His essays concerning visual rhetoric can be found in the Quarterly Journal of Speech and the Review of Communication . He earned his Ph.D.… from the University of Wisconsin--Madison in 1984.
Cara A. Finnegan is Associate Professor in the Departments of Speech Communication and Art History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research explores the social, political, and historical role of visual communication in the American public sphere. She is the author of Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs (Smithsonian Press, 2003). Her essays on visual rhetoric have appeared in journals such as The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly. She is a former recipient of the National Communication Association's Diamond Anniversary Book Award and the Golden Monograph Award.