Letterpress, Victorian posters and mapping Dundee's Music Halls
Q&A with Billy Rough, Lecturer in Art History at University of St Andrews
We've got a new class coming up in DCA Print Studio, inspired by an exciting new digital project.
Letterpress: Victorian Poster is a one day workshop that will dive into Dundee's Victorian heritage and the art of creating letterpress posters. Attendees will get the chance to use our Victorian printing presses to make their own posters in the style of music hall billboards.
The workshop celebrates the launch of Mapping Dundee's Music Halls on Sat 5 December. This new website will highlight lost venues and remarkable performers from the city's history. This research project is supported by the School of Art History, University of St Andrews, and due to this support we're delighted to be running an additional workshop with Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust, an organisation that provides creative opportunities that improve health, wellbeing, and quality of life for people living with long-term conditions.
We caught up with Billy Rough, the driving force behind this project, to find out more...
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Hi Billy, please introduce yourself.
My name is Billy Rough and I’m a Lecturer in Art History at the School of Art History, University of St Andrews. My research explores the relationship between British art and theatre in the long nineteenth century, alongside a broader interest in nineteenth-century printmaking. This has included creating an online catalogue of prints held in The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum’s Orchar Collection.
I’m particularly interested in the history and visual culture of music hall and, over the past few years, have been researching music hall ephemera held in local museum and archival collections. This research has resulted in a new digital project, Mapping Dundee’s Music Halls, which will launch in December 2026.
Tell us more about the Mapping Dundee's Music Halls project.
Mapping Dundee’s Music Halls explores the rich and often overlooked history of Dundee’s music halls during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on posters, playbills, programmes, newspapers, photographs, and other surviving records, the project examines the venues, performers, audiences, and individuals who helped shape the city’s vibrant entertainment culture.
At the heart of the project are collections held by The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum; the Local History Centre at Dundee Central Library; the British Music Hall Society Archive at Lambeth Archives, London; and the University of Dundee Museums. Together, these collections preserve a remarkable range of music hall posters and other printed ephemera. These objects do more than record performances and events: they are important historical sources in their own right, offering fascinating glimpses into the entertainments, personalities, and popular culture of the period.
How important were printed posters at the time and how have they factored into your research?
Dating from the 1840s through to the early twentieth century, the posters tell us a great deal about the history and culture of music hall. Their designs, imagery, typography, and material qualities reveal how performances were advertised, how audiences were attracted, and how entertainment was presented and consumed. They also offer valuable insights into the visual culture of popular leisure and the social worlds in which music halls operated.
What printmaking processes were used in the creation of the posters?
The majority of these posters were produced using letterpress printing, with many printed by the local Dundee firm Durham & Son. DCA's workshop, Letterpress: Victorian Poster, offers a fascinating opportunity to explore the techniques behind Victorian poster production and gain a deeper insight into the printmaking practices of the time. There will also be the chance to discover inspiration in the rich details and designs of this historic collection on the Mapping Dundee's Music Halls website, which goes live on the same day.
What can visitors expect to find on the Mapping Dundee's Music Halls website?
The website will feature an accessible, searchable catalogue of nearly 400 objects identified so far, alongside histories of the music halls that once entertained Dundonians. These include The Gaiety, Springthorpe’s, and The People’s Palace, which once stood beside DCA, on the site now occupied by the Queen’s Hotel car park. The People’s Palace also has a connection to one of the most celebrated names in comedy: Stan Laurel performed there in August 1908.
Alongside the catalogue, a series of Music Hall Stories will explore the histories of key performers, venues, and other figures connected with Dundee’s entertainment scene. For those who fancy stepping into the shoes of a music hall manager, the website will also feature Top of the Bill, a fun interactive game that lets you create your own evening programme for a night at a Dundee music hall.
I hope Mapping Dundee’s Music Halls will appeal not only to those interested in music hall history, but also to artists, illustrators, graphic designers, and anyone fascinated by the visual culture of popular entertainment. These posters are a treasure trove of inspiration, showcasing bold lettering, expressive illustrations, inventive layouts, and the distinctive visual language of nineteenth-century popular print. I hope the website will encourage artists and designers to explore these historic materials and experiment with the rich interplay of typography, image, and performance.
Above all, I hope it will bring these remarkable objects to a wider audience and inspire new ways of looking at Dundee’s musical and theatrical past.
Thanks Billy!
Book now for our Letterpress: Victorian Poster workshop and take a look at Mapping Dundee's Music Halls when it goes live on Sat 5 December. You can follow the project on Instagram and Facebook now.
And thanks again to Billy for sharing these images from the Local History Centre poster collection at Dundee Central Library (take a closer look below) and the School of Art History, University of St Andrews for supporting our THAT workshop.
