ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Exhibiting the Eclipse: Victorian Visual Culture and the Norman Lockyer Observatory Image Archive

• In Event: Emerging from the Shadow: New Perspectives on Solar Eclipse Expeditions 1

English Abstract

The Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth (Devon) houses over two hundred recently unearthed magic lantern slides concerning eclipse expeditions and their results. These materials were chiefly intended for display during Lockyer’s public lectures, and date from the mid-1890s onwards, covering the last active years of his astronomical career. They provide a unique perspective into these expeditions, ranging from recreational pursuits to instrument rehearsals and coronal photography. As well as exposing the labour regimes involved in eclipse fieldwork, these images are evidence of the narratives the Lockyers wanted to communicate to the public regarding these state-funded trips. The usual framing included an evaluation of eclipse expeditions as matters of national prestige, ideal vehicles through which to project Britain’s naval and scientific supremacy abroad. But the images also draw on the popular visual culture of their time, presenting the eclipse to general audiences as a touristic excursion, a military exercise, or a tale of adventure and exploration. This paper will examine the careful construction of these curated images in order to reveal more about how astronomers countered the instabilities in their photographic work, and how the networks that facilitated eclipse expeditions influenced their visual records.

Author

• Beatrice Honey Steele, University of Exeter