US History

Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

World History

Arts

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Victorian era, which lasted from 1837 to 1901 during the reign of Queen Victoria of England.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Victorian Era

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.

Resources

1. [Victorian Britain](https://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain), British Library. 
2. [British Empire](http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/), UK National Archives. 
3. [The Victorian Period](https://faculty.unlv.edu/kirschen/handouts/victorian.html), University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

Overview

Queen Victoria of England reigned over a vast British empire from 1837 until her death in 1901. During her rule, England rapidly transformed into a modern, technologically-based economy exercising global military and cultural power, roiling with class and racial conflict. Victorianism extended far beyond the boundaries of Britain and informed international movements of the same period, including in the United States. 

Queen Victoria’s name signifies not only her era as a distinct time period in world history, but also a particular aesthetic sensibility in design, literature, manners, and morals. Victorian-era objects and buildings were often highly decorated and ornate. Victorian writers and intellectuals celebrated “sentiment”—feeling, emotion, affection, and passion—that found diverse expression in abolitionism, paternalistic colonialism, social reform, and celebrations of romantic love or mourning. Values defined as “Victorian” included moral responsibility and restraint as well as domestic propriety and gentility. At the same time, the Victorian era was marked by rigid gender and class hierarchies seen in elaborate codes of conduct, etiquette, and social rituals. Anxieties about science, religion, and race undermined many Victorians’ prosperity and moral certainty. 

The material objects, buildings, and texts arranged in this primary source set illustrate the variety of Victorian design while revealing some of the unique cultural characteristics of the period. 

English

Victorian Era

victorian-era_09_72443e5097d400639d836ee05a6e14a8.jpg

Stowe, Samuel Charles, “Post-mortem portrait of Samuel Charles Stowe, son of Harriet Beecher Stowe,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/72443e5097d400639d836ee05a6e14a8. 

Little “Charley,” the young son of American abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband Calvin, died in 1849 during a cholera epidemic in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following the custom of many Victorian families, the Stowes had a daguerreotype portrait taken of their deceased son before his burial. The small framed portrait would have been an important part of the family’s mourning, and it fits with the Victorian conception of childhood as a period of both innocence and vulnerability. 

A post-mortem photograph of Samuel Charles Stowe, son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1849.

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Tips for Students

Item 9 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Victorian Era