When the Lamps Went Out: Emotion, Memory, and Rural Electrification in England and Finland, 1880s–1910s

At the turn of the twentieth century, rapid technological change impacted urban and rural areas in different yet interconnected ways. By comparing how electricity affected Finnish and English inhabitants through essays collected between 1958 and 1964, this article examines how rural populations addressed, negotiated, and expressed technological change at both individual and communal levels. Scrutinizing electric lighting illustrates how cultural and societal contexts shaped early responses to electrification and the challenges it posed to rural life. The main findings show that English writers expressed nostalgia for the pre-electrification rituals such as lighting the oil lamp, while Finnish writers described international tensions surrounding new lighting practices. Unpacking these narratives reveals how people intertwine technology with their lives. By foregrounding emotion as a historical category, this article shows that nostalgia was not just simply resistance to change but a means of coping with modernity's social and moral disruptions.