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Created in 1902, Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon’s A Tram Ride Through Nottingham combines three silent, monochrome footage fragments. Hats are tipped to the camera’s recording eye, positioned at tram front end, as prepubescent boys in heavy knickerbocker suits run ahead, waving caps and straw boaters. An unfolding choreography of interwoven agents involves stationery policemen, street sweepers, horse-drawn buses and pedestrians, crossing the verticality of steel tracks, and surrounded by examples of a rich visual culture. Union flags fly from shop awnings, the camera passes the truncated spiral of a barber’s pole, and highlights billboard brands: Griffin and Spalding boots and shoes; Robin the new starch; Players; Pinders for silks.

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