Third-year English undergraduate students taking ENL3095 ‘Literature and the Visual 1770-1900’ visited the print studio on campus last month to experiment with making cyanotype prints. This hands-on session introduced them to the process of cyanotype printing but also explored the legacy of the pioneering Victorian photographer, Anna Atkins. Born in 1799, Atkins was a botanist and artist who used the cyanotype process to document plant specimens. In 1843, she published Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the first book to be illustrated with photographs. Her work not only contributed to the fields of botany and photography but also paved the way for future generations of female photographers.

Cyanotype printing is a photographic process that produces blue prints using UV light. This technique involves coating a surface, typically paper or fabric, with a light-sensitive solution of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. When exposed to UV light, the coated surface develops a rich cyan-blue colour. In the Victorian period, Atkins would have used sunlight; on a cloudy day in spring, we could use the UV unit in the print studio.

During the workshop, students learned to coat their chosen materials, and expose their prints using the UV unit. They experimented with various objects like leaves, flowers, and seed pods, and created their own negatives based on drawings of botanical forms.

Cyanotype printing is considered relatively eco-friendly compared to many other photographic processes. It uses non-toxic chemicals like ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, which are generally safe to handle with basic precautions. Unlike traditional photographic methods, cyanotype does not require harsh developers, fixers, or solvents, reducing its environmental footprint. (The rinse water from cyanotype prints is typically safe to wash down domestic drains in small amounts.)

Thanks to the students for coming along and experimenting, and to Sian Kirman-Wright, our Photography and Printmaking Technician for her help!

– Laura Gill

Dr Sarah Longair (Associate Professor in the History of Empire) has been named one of the 2024 winners of the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE)!

You can read more about Sarah’s research-led, interdisciplinary teaching here.

We are very pleased to share the news that Owen Clayton’s book Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos: The Literature and Culture of U.S. Transiency 1890–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) has won the esteemed BAAS (British Association for American Studies) book prize this year.

The most enduring version of the hobo that has come down from the so-called ‘Golden Age of Tramping’ (1890s to 1940s) is an American cultural icon, signifying freedom from restraint and rebellion to the established order while reinforcing conservative messages about American exceptionalism, individualism, race, and gender. Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos shows that this ‘pioneer hobo’ image is a misrepresentation by looking at works created by transient artists and thinkers, including travel literature, fiction, memoir, early feminist writing, poetry, sociology, political journalism, satire, and music. This book explores the diversity of meanings that accrue around ‘the hobo’ and ‘the tramp’. It is the first analysis to frame transiency within a nineteenth-century literary tradition of the vagabond, a figure who attempts to travel without money. This book provide new ways for scholars to think about the activity and representation of US transiency.

To quote the BAAS book prize committee: 

This excellent book explores the roots of the idea of “the Hobo” in American society and literature and offers a compelling argument for the uniquely “Americanness” of the idea. By focusing on the period before some of the better-known figures/works (Kerouac, Thelma and Louise, etc) it puts them in a larger conversation around questions of labour, migration (or movement more generally), and identity. 

Tracing the evolution of the idea and highlighting distinctions between “vagrants,” “tramps,” and “hobos,” the book offers a nuanced framework for exploring the continued evolution of these ideas in later works. The range of sources and perspectives (memoirs, cartoons, newspapers, music, literature, academia) add richness and depth, showcasing the strengths of American Studies as a discipline.

You can order the book on the Cambridge University Press website here (LINK).