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Primary Source Sets
Victorian Era
A tortoiseshell calling card case from the mid-nineteenth century.

A tortoiseshell calling card case from the mid-nineteenth century.

This small hard case with silver hinges was fashioned from the shell of a sea tortoise, a material popular in the Victorian era for its decorative coloring and durable qualities. The case is adorned with a silver monogram of entwined letters M and B. It was likely used by a woman to hold or display calling cards exchanged by friends and acquaintances when they visited one another’s homes. The case contains an ivory insert for penciled notes and elastic straps to secure loose cards.

Citation Information
“Tortoiseshell Card Case,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/93460d2e2531158f9a9cdea6d69a1994.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center via Smithsonian Institution.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 2 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Victorian Era

Previous ItemNext Item
A photograph of a Victorian home interior in Kenosha, Wisconsin, ca. 1890.
A tortoiseshell calling card case from the mid-nineteenth century.
A chromolithograph print called “Making the Scrap Book,” 1868.
An African American family record chart, 1880.
An excerpt from The Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility, 1859.
A print depicting a Victorian couple in love, 1850s.
A photographic portrait of Queen Victoria.
A commemorative hair and yarn wreath from Wisconsin, ca. 1879.
A post-mortem photograph of Samuel Charles Stowe, son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1849.
A photograph of Victoria Terminus Railway Station in Mumbai (Bombay), India.
An excerpt from the London Exhibition’s “New Crystal Palace Polka,” 1851.
A dedication and poem from Victoria Regia: a Volume of Original Contributions in Poetry and Prose, 1861.
A photograph of the University of Pennsylvania cricket team, 1887.
An advertisement for Dr. Scott’s Electric Corset, 1883.

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