Project overview
Nineteenth-century mass industrialisation disrupted the traditional structures, economies, livelihoods, and collective identity of many skilled occupations. The book trades were no exception.
Printers, bookbinders, engravers, and papermakers, for instance, who may have been
travelling journeymen in their early days, reinvented themselves as imperial careerists and
colony hoppers.
They arrived in port cities, like Southampton, on the cusp of migration, and helped fashion dynamic, albeit temporary, spaces for professional, social, and cultural exchange.
This research project aims to map Southampton’s book trade networks using local archives and digitised newspapers, and recover the little-known stories of these transient bookworkers and the places they inhabited.
It builds upon a previous international collaboration with Professor Mary Hammond and explores new digital humanities approaches, methods and tools in conjunction with faculty in history, computer science, and the library.
Anticipated outcomes include an interactive digital portal, content for a heritage tour smartphone app, and exhibition proposal.
Printers, bookbinders, engravers, and papermakers, for instance, who may have been
travelling journeymen in their early days, reinvented themselves as imperial careerists and
colony hoppers.
They arrived in port cities, like Southampton, on the cusp of migration, and helped fashion dynamic, albeit temporary, spaces for professional, social, and cultural exchange.
This research project aims to map Southampton’s book trade networks using local archives and digitised newspapers, and recover the little-known stories of these transient bookworkers and the places they inhabited.
It builds upon a previous international collaboration with Professor Mary Hammond and explores new digital humanities approaches, methods and tools in conjunction with faculty in history, computer science, and the library.
Anticipated outcomes include an interactive digital portal, content for a heritage tour smartphone app, and exhibition proposal.
