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Primary Source Sets
Victorian Era
A photographic portrait of Queen Victoria.

A photographic portrait of Queen Victoria.

This commercial photographic card of Queen Victoria displays the portrait artist’s many awards and commendations on the reverse side. Although undated, this photograph shows the queen wearing a black lace-trimmed dress in mourning for her husband, Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Queen Victoria had set the fashion in England and America for white wedding dresses when she and Albert married in 1840, and she also set the standard as a widow by remaining in mourning for the rest of her life. Especially during and after the Civil War, many Americans looked to Victoria as an example for proper mourning practices, and an entire industry grew to accommodate the rituals and special clothing associated with mourning the loss of a loved one.

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Citation Information
Lafayette, Lauder, and James Stack, “Queen Victoria,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/e764a3ce8dbf6f1bf05edb0ede459f7e.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of University of Minnesota Libraries via Minnesota Digital Library.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

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

Item 7 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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