Ask a Steampunk: Miscellaneous Burning Questions
The following short videos don’t need much additional explanation, but they do give you a little insight into what we love about this genre.
Ask a Steampunk: How Did the Watch City Steampunk Festival Get Started?
In 2010, the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation suffered flood damage after the Charles River overflowed its banks. A fundraiser was held inside the museum, and the theme of the party was “steampunk”, which fit well with the Museum’s mission and style. They thought a few hundred people would show up, but they got over a thousand! The Museum realized that they had something special here.
In 2011 the festival moved outside for the first time. In 2012, the name Watch City Steampunk Festival was finally attached to this party. After the 2013 event, a new director for the Museum was named, and the decision was made to drop the Festival. However, another local civic group, the Downtown Waltham Partnership, took over the Festival and revived it in 2015. Since then, the event has been run as a free community festival; even during the COVID years of 2020 and 2021, when we couldn’t have a live event, some virtual entertainments were made available online.
Ask a Steampunk: Where Did the Term "Steampunk" Come From?
Science fiction author K.W. Jeter is credited with creating the term “steampunk” in 1987 to describe a style of fantasy fiction that featured Victorian technology, especially technology powered by steam. It was a tongue-in-cheek variant of “cyberpunk” fiction, replacing cyberpunk’s high-tech computers with the Victorian era’s cogs and factories. Jeter named it in a letter published in Locus magazine:
“Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like “steam-punks,” perhaps....”
Both cyberpunk and steampunk deal with the relationship between humans and technology, with the humans providing the “punk” element as they struggle to control, break away from, or enhance the role of technology in their lives.
Once this pattern was established, more “fill-in-the-blank-punks” were identified. The next most popular is “dieselpunk”, which moves into the technology of the 30’s and 40’s; the move “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is a good example of the style. Other examples are “atompunk”, moving into the atomic age of the 50’s and 60’s; “biopunk”, dealing with the ramifications of biotechnology; and “solarpunk”, which take a more hopeful view of our ability to cope with environmental issues.
Ask a Steampunk: Do I Have to Dress Up?
You do not need to dress up for the Watch City Steampunk Festival! Feel free to come as you are. We welcome time travelers from any century!
If you do want to dress in a Steampunk style without breaking your budget, here are some tips:
Look in your own closet first. You may have some ruffly skirts and blouses, vests and pants, or other good fundamental clothing items already. You’re looking for something that reminds you of that late 1800’s and turn-of-the-century style. An Old West vibe also works!
Check your local thrift stores for old-style clothes, accessories, and bits and pieces that you could craft into an accessory or prop.
Often it’s the accessories that push an outfit into Steampunk territory. A pair of goggles is always fashionable! You can find inexpensive pocket watches online. Maybe all you need is a good hat!
The costume stores and the online retailers have started carrying “steampunk” themed outfits. Go for it! All we suggest is that you do something to it - add a chain, a flower, a pin - to make it your own.
Of course on Festival day we will have plenty of vendors who can outfit you with whatever you need!
Here are some additional resources on steampunk costuming.
Ask a Steampunk: How Did Waltham Become "Watch City"?
The Waltham Watch Company was a company that produced about 40 million watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time delay fuses, and other precision instruments in the United States of America between 1850 and 1957.
At this time, the production of items such as pocket watches was moving from being a handcrafted process to one that could be mass produced in a factory. The Waltham Watch Company’s timepieces were well-made and well-regarded. For example, after the Civil War, the company became the main supplier of railroad chronometers to various railroads in North America and more than fifty other countries.
With the passage of time and changes in technology, the Waltham Watch Company eventually closed its doors. Today the building still stands and has been converted into housing. This video was filmed in the museum space inside the factory building! Learn more about today’s Watch Factory at https://www.walthamwatchfactory.com/
Learn more about the Waltham Watch Company:
Ask a Steampunk: What is Steampunk?
Steampunk is a literary and artistic movement that melds elements of Victorian-era history and fashion with modern technology and fantastical fiction. What if the seminal science fiction adventures of authors Jules Verne and H.G. Wells described our world today? What if we could fly in airships, sail in submarines like the Nautilus, and enjoy a good cup of tea while we're at it?
Steampunk has exploded in popularity as an artistic and lifestyle movement as well as a literary one. Steampunk artists and makers, fed up with plastic and streamlined designs, have been looking to the Victorian, Edwardian and Industrial eras for inspiration.
See how these steampunks answered the question!
Other places to learn more about steampunk: