Mammoths and wars, travel and home: The geographical life of journalist and natural historian Bassett Digby (1888--1962)

The life and work of obscure British traveler, journalist, author, and natural historian (George) Bassett Digby, FRGS (1888--1962) provides insights into the construction of imaginative geographies of foreign lands for a popular readership in early 20th century Britain. Digby was one of many who collected natural specimens and cultural artifacts for museums and narrated the exotic and the everyday in books, newspapers and periodicals. His early life highlights the intertwined nature of commerce and scientific knowledge in the Siberian mammoth ivory trade before the First World War. As a war correspondent in Russia and northern Europe Digby's reports demonstrate a close linkage between travel and war stories. Digby's interwar newspaper columns draw attention to the unexamined role of journalism in communicating imaginative geographies. Columnists, frequently resident overseas and identified only by their initials, offered glimpses of life in other countries. These residence writers' accounts of homemaking disrupt some of the binaries widely associated with travel writing. Digby's work in Britain, the French Riviera and Corsica reveals themes of homemaking, possession and travel that highlight Yi-Fu Tuan's dialectic of cosmos and hearth, and the role of salvage in travelers' lives, themes directly relevant to 21st century mobilities. Digby's work also illustrates the role of graphics in travel accounts. Lacking copyright, postcards captured sights unseen by travelers yet considered important to geographic knowledge. Corsican postcards inserted representations from the country itself although visual analysis shows a complex heritage. Sketches complemented writings through their ability to convey the particular. Travel narratives' fragmentary and personal information can act as ghosts of place, guiding later travelers' routes and experiences. The dissertation promotes the use of biography and collage as research and presentation tools within geography.