Proto-steampunk ironworks of 1865
Behold! The Vulcan Ironworks sign on Cumberland Street in Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1865. Such steampunky exuberance! Teresa sez, "I count wagon wheels, a plow, an anvil, what may be some wagon springs, a great deal of ornamental ironwork, a purely ornamental sword, what look like some arrow fletchings (except those aren't normally made out of iron), a wrought iron hand holding a wrought iron candlestick, a rather fine alligator or dragon, and a small cannon. I'm sure that's not the complete list."
Vulcan Iron Works Sign, Vulcan Iron Works: 1865 (Thanks, Teresa!)
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Um.. this isn't Steampunk, its just Victorian. Which Steampunk harkens back to.. not proto-steampunk
Why do people who comment on steampunk posts have no sense of humour?
Wait.
I see an anvil, wagon springs, oh.. yeah.. there it is.. the face of Jesus Christ without a beard. Huh..
It's worth following the link to see a larger version of the picture; the copy here on BB is too small to appreciate properly.
I particularly like the fancywork on the diagonally-braced truss supporting the cannon. Good way of showing both iron's strength and its decorative potential.
I find myself pondering a version of _The_Graduate_ set about 100 years earlier:
Mr. McLeigh: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McLeigh: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McLeigh: Iron.
@Gloria
Sorry for got to add ";)"
and btw It's not a lack of humour, its an inflated sense of self importance :D
I would like to object to the "proto"-steampunk nomenclature as well. If it's actually from the victorian era, then it's real steampunk. Like, per definition. No proto. Proto-steampunk comes from, like, 1436.
@5: Tends to gather all types, doesn't it? Ah, the magic.
Wai-ai-ai-ait! Is that foundry connected with ancestors of poet and diplomat Archibald MacLeish????
sorry gotta agree with first post there.
I think it's funny how the terms "Punk" and "Steampunk" are procured by different groups of people from different points in history and geography. I'm sure "Cyberpunk" had this issue as well. Use the word "punk" in a compound word to describe a certain genre that you cannot easily categorize and all those who attach themselves to it seem constantly and obsessively personally involved with its foundation. Since I am an outsider and I am clearly "clueless", do y'all ahve a chosen leader who you can all look up to that is the final decider of what is steam and what is not?
Or should I just shut the fuck up and get back to my completely non-steampunky daydreams of me and Xeni running through fields of gold?
I use to work in downtown Charleston, a block from Cumberland. In fact the parking garage I used was on Cumberland, which may have been located where this factory use to be.
Sometimes on my lunch break I would go walking South of Broad (SOB) and admire the properties that were over two and three hundred years old. A lot had iron gates and/or fences. Some could be very dangerous to anyone foolish enough to try and go over!
I find myself thinking about Charleston often these days.
Fields of gold!
Ok, you noticed the arrow fletching, but missed the anchor?!
That's a marvelous and inspiring piece of authentic signage. Thanks for the post!
I think the arrow fletching is actually a palmetto frond.
If it's real victorian, rather than 'alternate victorian' is it still steampunk?
Are trains and hot air balloons steampunk? Creepy Victorian mental institutions?
May I put forward that, while yes, it is a real Victorian sign, its a rather atypical example of Victorian signs as a whole. There is a uniquely hodge-podge sense of design at play that predicts the chaotic anarchy of all things "punk." Being an Ironworks shop, its self aware of and glorifies the materials used; a hallmark of the steampunk genre. So in this context, the term "proto-steampunk" is appropriate to describe this specific sign, but not all Victorian signs.
It says the image is the left plate of a stereoscope card. Do they have the right plate? I collect stereoscope cards and I'd love to print this one out and see how it looks.
I see more than a little Rowland Emett in this picture.
There are too few of his delightful drawings on the Web (how he'd have loved "The Web"!) but plenty of pictures of his (rather coarser) whimsical machines, including the inventions made for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
I wish the tag turned web pages into Emett creations...
Using "proto-steampunk" for "Victorian" is like using "proto-Lawrence-Alma-Tadema" for "Greek," or like calling Civil War photographs "proto Ken Burns."
I wonder, though, was this during the war or before? That wonderfully convoluted sign reminds me of Sherman's neckties.... Did the sign survive the war and the marauding Union soldiers?
@ #17
I don't know if I can agree with you on that. Does being artistic and countercultural allow any artifact from Victorian times thus to become 'punk' or protosteampunk? It strikes me that an iron foundry, would need to be 'self aware' of its materials and by showing off its metalworking prowess would bring in more customers. Elementary marketing!
In my mind, steampunk is reserved specifically for the meshing of Victorian materials and time-period correct ideas and objects with technologies and design concepts that are intentionally anachronistic to the period.
Wheels and iron ... I'm sure these guys welcomed the auto-mobile--steam, electric, or ICE-powered--thirty-odd years later.
--Mike
Note, too, the amazing ironwork on the left of the picture. Charleston has quite a bit of decorative ironwork on the many porches, balconies, and gates that date from the 1700-1900s.
The 90-year old Philip Simmons passed in 2002, but he left a lifelong legacy of great work in Charleston during the 20th century--in fact he was named a National Heritage Fellow by the Smithsonian.
http://www.philipsimmons.us/works.htm
What caught my eye is what appears to be a rudimentary masonic symbol directly above the anvil. Perhaps this is simply structural, but maybe there's something more to it...
I am intrigued by what look like some mechanical connections to the cannon at the far right! If this cannon was capable of firing blank charges for the celebration of special occasions, this would be my favorite piece of signage ever.
Also, try and get something like this approved by your local building inspectors/city wonks! Gah, we have lost our way. The truly creative is replaced by giant glowing targets.
the cannon is very punk. steam or not.
Millionpoems @8, if you can connect that to Archibald MacLeish, I'll be truly impressed.
Baldhead @9, don't worry about it. We won't let you bore us.
Clueless @10, whichever makes you happier.
Daemon @13: Wow. I missed the anchor. Thank you.
Fat Sal @15, the palmetto frond is a palmetto frond. The bits that look like fletching hang down below.
Tdawwg @20, the site's other photos from Charleston were taken before the end of the war, but after the Confederates abandoned the city. Charleston took some damage during its long semi-siege, but there wasn't much marauding after it surrendered. You may be thinking of Columbia, SC, where they're still arguing about whose fault it was that the city burned to the ground in 1865.
I think my favorite part of the sign is that loose, loopy, sinuous piece of iron that passes above the anvil, and at one point encloses what looks like part of a lightning-rod (which add to the list). The orderly curlicues of conventional wrought iron are evidence of the smith's expertise, but that piece is masterful.
One other note: there are two purely ornamental swords in that assemblage. The second one is scimitar-shaped, and is above and behind the one with the wavy blade.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Diego_Velasquez%2C_The_Forge_of_Vulcan.jpg
Is it just me, or is that a huge liability waiting to happen? A modern-day town board would never approve such awesomeness.
liability? in 1865? In South Carolina? Maybe ten dollars if it killed an adult, white male.
caption for #29: "You want it when??"
Takuan, you just made me laugh out loud. When did you work in the printing trades?
Do you suddenly suspect, as I do, that versions of the "You want it when?" cartoon were on display in workshops in Mohenjo-daro and Ur of the Chaldees?
I haven't followed the provided link so maybe this is restating what's already known but I think that wherever I found this pic a while back (Shorpy maybe?) the description stated this was civil war era and that the sign was for one of the few businesses that did well during the the war (my memory is not completely reliable). It is a great pic.