Imagined Futures: Early Sci-Fi and Electric Visions

Picturing the future, from steam-powered machines to Jules Verne's visions of space travel

Object is a podcast diving into the histories and meanings behind the art, images, and cultural objects we encounter every day. Hosted by Ferren Gipson, this show explores visual and material culture, offering a lens on how images and objects help shape the way we see and experience the world.

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The March of Intellect, ca. 1828, print by Robert Seymour (1798–1836). Find more from this print series on The Public Domain Review.

What did the Victorians think the future would look like? In this episode, I speak to historian Iwan Rhys Morus and art historian Nancy Rose Marshall about 19th-century visions of tomorrow—a world of electricity, flying machines, and technological wonders that mixed genuine speculation with pure fantasy.

The ‘Imagined Futures’ miniseries is brought to you in partnership with The Public Domain Review, an online journal exploring curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas. Discover images related to imagined futures, forgotten pasts, and more at publicdomainreview.org.

In this episode:

• The 150th anniversary of the telephone and Victorian dreams of seeing across distances

• Scientific romance: a genre blending fiction and speculative science

• Albert Robida’s illustrated visions of cities in the sky

• J.M.W. Turner’s paintings capturing anxieties about steam and progress

• Jules Verne’s influence on real space exploration

• Climate change concerns in Victorian futurism

• Whimsical French postcards imagining life in the year 2000

Images from this episode appear below, and find more retrofuturist imagery on The Public Domain Review here.

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(Left) Image of ‘Edison’s Telephonoscope’ in Punch Almanack, 1879, print by George du Maurier (1834–1896). (Right) “How our great grandchildren will live in the year 2012,” Trading card for Chocolat Lombart, c. 19th c.

(Left) The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1839, oil on canvas by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). National Gallery, London. (Right) Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, 1844, oil on canvas by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). National Gallery, London

Nash’s Views of the Crystal Palace, 1851, lithograph by Joseph Nash (1809–1878). Victoria and Albert Museum

Selection from “Future Dictates of Fashion” by W. Cade Gall in The Strand, Vol. 5, 1893: 551–560. See the full text at The Public Domain Review.

Images from Albert Robida’s Le vingtième siècle: la vie électrique (The Electric Life) (Paris: La Librairie Illustrée, 1893).

Illustrations from Jule's Verne's novels 'From the Earth to the Moon' and its sequel 'Around the Moon' by Henri de Montaut, Émile-Antoine Bayard and Alphonse de Neuville.

Illustration from A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future, by John Jacob Astor; 1894; D. Appleton, New York. Find the full book on The Public Domain Review

Images from 'En l'an 2000' (In the Year 2000), 1900, lithograph cards designed by Jean-Marc Côté. National Library of France