Victorian Popular Culture | Rutgers University Libraries (2024)

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Victorian Popular Culture | Rutgers University Libraries? ›

Victorian Popular Culture is a collection of digitized primary sources depicting popular entertainment in Britain, the United States, and Europe in the long 19th century. Rutgers has access to 4 modules on this platform: Module I: Spiritualism, Sensation and Magic. Module II: Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks.

Victorian performance and print culture were rich and varied, a blend of melodrama, spectacle, and morality. Theatre thrived. Melodrama—which featured evil villains, virtuous heroines, and intricate plots—was the most important and most popular genre early on; later, sensation drama became popular.

The five characteristics of the Victorian Era​ are- social and political reform, economic progress, poverty, and exploitation were also equally present, The gap between the rich and poor increased, and material and commercial success was there.

American Victorianismrefers to the cultural influence that Great Britain's Victorian era, which ran from approximately 1820-1914 and corresponded roughly to the span of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901), had on the United States.

If you're wondering what was life like in the Victorian era, then social inequality and changes are important points to consider. Poor people often lived in very crowded and unhealthy conditions. They often had to share a small room with many other people, and there was no indoor plumbing.

If we ask academics to enumerate archetypically Victorian values, they might say: prudishness, thrift, individualism, responsibility, self-reliance, an entrepreneurial spirit, the idea of the self-made man, the civilising mission, evangelism to name a few. This essay will touch upon some of these values in turn.

The working class, women, and people of color were agitating for the right to vote and rule themselves. Reformers fought for safe workplaces, sanitary reforms, and universal education. Victorian literature reflects these values, debates, and cultural concerns.

The most familiar images of Victorian life are bleak indeed: impoverished children working long hours in factories and mines; blankets of smog suspended above overcrowded cities; frightening workhouses run by cruel governors; violent criminals lurking in the shadows.

Whether grasping the entire hand or just the fingers, Victorian etiquette seems to agree that the hand should be taken firmly and with a light pressure. After the initial grasp, the hand should be pressed gently and relinquished quietly. Eye contact during this brief exchange was also important.

Elements of Victorian morality explained. Although truthfulness, economizing, duty, personal responsibility, and a strong work ethic were strongly regarded as morals of the Victorian era, the years between 1837 and 1901 involved much more.

What do Americans call the Victorian era? ›

American history that happened along the north Atlantic coast is commonly referred to as taking place “in Victorian times”, but any history that happened west of the Rockies is usually discussed as “in the old west”.

Victorians believed that a woman's proper and only place was to be within a household environment. The women were expected to marry, have children, and keep a nice household. Those were the only acceptable roles for women during that era.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ The title "The Last of the Great Victorians" is often associated with British statesman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Girls usually played with dolls, dolls houses and tea sets. Boys usually played with toy trains, boats, soldiers and marbles. In many homes, the only toy children were allowed to play with on a Sunday was Noah's Ark, because it related to the Bible. Victorian children enjoyed playing games too.

Still, it is generally agreed that during the Victorian era, the Rothschild family possessed the largest private fortune in the world.

Only 40 per cent of children born in the 1850's would reach their 60th birthday. Since children would normally be expected to provide for their parents in their old age, having a large family was often the only way to provide for their own future.

Victorianism was the culture of top hats, of dresses that covered every inch of the female body, of rigid gender norms, and of an almost pathological fear of sexuality. Its defining characteristic was the desire for security, especially security from the influence of the lower classes.

The Victorian era saw revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, which shaped the world as we know it today. These transformations led to many social changes with the birth and spread of political movements, most notably socialism, liberalism and organised feminism.

The most popular genre during the Victorian era was the novel. During the 19th century, novels were very accessible to the public, and many new writers emerged during this time. The Victorian era was characterized by the Industrial Revolution and significant social and economic change.

Their works were based on painting as accurately as possible from nature when able, and when painting imaginary scenes to ensure they showed as closely as possible the scene as it would have appeared, rather than distorting the subject of the painting to make it appear noble.