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Archive: "victoriana" Tag

Gifts from Queen Victoria

Friday, May 24, 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria. The Victorian Collection here at L. Tom Perry Special Collections contains a wealth of material about the Queen and her life, as well as a number of documents signed and written by Victoria herself. In honor of her birthday, we’re sharing a gallery of …

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How to Celebrate a Victorian Christmas

Special Collections is celebrating the Christmas season with a new exhibit, “From Shrieks to Shenanigans: How to Celebrate a Truly Victorian Christmas.” The Victorians loved Christmas carols and tales of Father Christmas, but their festivities also included jokes, games, and ghost stories. The exhibit, which was curated by Dr. Leslee Thorne-Murphy’s English 236 students, showcases …

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Victorian Leisure: Games

Special Collections has just digitized a set of books of games from Victorian England. From charades and riddles to group party games and homemade toys, these books illustrate the types of home-based entertainment which were popular among children and adults in the 19th century. Find and try a game your ancestor might have played, or …

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Bazaar Literature

Special Collections’ newest major exhibit, Welcome to Our Charity Bazaar, features an interesting subgenre of Victorian literature: poems, stories, and books produced for sale at fundraising fairs throughout the 19th century in Great Britain and the United States. Many famous authors of the period contributed pieces which were printed either as standalone items or anthologized …

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Victorian Book of the Month: Wonderland edition

Lewis Carroll’s beloved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first issued by his London publisher, Macmillan, in July 1865. Before Alice Carroll had published a number of mathematical works under his true name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He adopted his famous pseudonym in 1856 for the many poems, short prose, and even puzzles which he submitted to …

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Victorian Book of the Month: May flowers edition

Floriology, also called flower language or flower symbolism, was popular during the Victorian period. Sentiments were attached to specific varieties and colors of flowers, so that giving or wearing flowers was a way to send a symbolic message. A number of books on the flower language were published throughout the Victorian period. Some even included …

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VBM 3: Poetry of the season

November’s Victorian Book of the Month is Samuel Collinson’s poetry collection Autumn Leaves (1869). Collinson was a minor 19th century poet who made his career as a chemist (or pharmacist) in the East Midlands city of Nottingham. Autumn Leaves and his other book of poetry, Richard’s Tower: an Idyll of Nottingham Castle (1876), were both …

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VBM 2: Going Gothic, and in 3-D

October’s Victorian Book of the Month is The Miracles of Our Lord, an 1848 book with a papier-mâché binding. The book is an example of artwork from the Victorian Gothic Revival and is meant to imitate a medieval manuscript – in fact, the book states that the cover was inspired by a 12th century ivory …

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New acquisitions: the coronation of Queen Victoria

We’ve featured some of Special Collections’ memorabilia from Queen Victoria’s 1838 coronation previously on this website, but we’ve recently acquired some spectacular items  and want to share! Our first featured item is Peter Parley’s visit to London, during the coronation of Queen Victoria is an 1839 children’s book recounting the coronation as well as the …

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The Diamond Jubilee

As the British Commonwealth celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the British throne, we are looking back at the only other British monarch to achieve such a long reign, Queen Victoria.  Victoria marked the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne on June 22, 1897.  The Victorian Collection at L. Tom Perry Special Collections …

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