The Hudson Transparencies

The Hudson Transparencies are a set of fifty eight original images of microscopic plants and animals. Created in the late 19th century by Charles Thomas Hudson to accompany his educational talks, they now form part of the University of Exeter’s Special Collections.

Each original transparency measures approximately 96 cm high by 76 cm wide. Made of framed brown Manila paper, with shapes cut out, pinpricks and pieces of coloured and painted tissue paper stuck on the reverse of the cut-out shapes, they look very roughly-made at first glance. However, they are carefully designed so that when lit from behind they create striking images, conveying the beauty and intricacy of minute plants and creatures.

This online exhibition features photographs of a selection of these stunning images.

How were the transparencies made?

The images below show a section from one of the transparencies - showing how they were made and the effect created when lit up from behind.

Who was Charles Thomas Hudson?

Born in London in 1828, Hudson studied at the University of Cambridge after which he became a teacher, eventually becoming Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School and then ran his own private school in Bristol in 1861 until 1881. Hudson moved to Dawlish, Devon where he lived from 1891 to 1899.

He devoted his leisure to microscopical research and was an internationally acknowledged authority on rotifers, tiny multicellular animals found in fresh water and marine ecosystems.

He collaborated with marine zoologist Phillip Henry Gosse, together publishing The Rotifera, or Wheel Animalcules in 1886 and 1889. A copy of this book is also held in the University’s Special Collections. A collection of Gosse’s paintings and drawings of sea creatures can be seen at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. They have a striking resemblance in style to the Hudson transparencies.

Recent interest in the Transparencies

In 2011, University of Exeter Honorary Research Fellow Dr Robin Wootton revived interest in the transparencies in an article for the Transactions of the Devonshire Association.

The transparencies have recently undergone full conservation and digitisation, enabling them to be viewed without damaging the fragile originals.

More information about the Hudson Transparencies can be found by contacting the University’s Special Collections Department: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/special-collections/ quoting reference EUL MS 442

Scroll down to see an online gallery of images of a selection of the Hudson transparencies.

All images in this exhibition are courtesy Special Collections Department University of Exeter. Reproduction of these images is not permitted without permission from the Special Collections Department University of Exeter.

Image captions have mostly been taken from labels on the transparencies themselves, so may not reflect current terminology for the creatures and plants depicted.