Victorian Studies

Includes access to four collections:

British Periodicals Collection I consists of more than 160 journals that comprise the UMI microfilm collection Early British Periodicals, the equivalent of 5,238 printed volumes containing approximately 3.1 million pages. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences.

British Periodicals Collection II consists of more than 300 journals from the UMI microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles, amounting to almost 3 million pages. Topics covered include literature, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

British Periodicals Collection III extends the scope of the program by focusing on leading publications from the first half of the twentieth century. The titles are from the prestigious stable of illustrated periodicals known as the “Great Eight” in British periodical publishing history. They are considered to be among the foremost popular periodicals of the period and were highly influential in their mix of news/politics, miscellany, art, photography, literature and comedy/satire, while launching the careers of many leading artists/illustrators of the age.

British Periodicals Collection IV continues this expansion, offering an eclectic mix of major popular titles from the twentieth century, reflecting the age’s attitudes interests and events across culture, politics and society. Key themes covered in these publications include socialism and the labour movement, international affairs/conflict, leisure/rural life, the arts, travel/empire and childhood/youth.

First published May 14, 1842, the Illustrated London News was the world's first pictorial weekly newspaper. Its founder, Herbert Ingram, was an entrepreneurial newsagent, who noticed that newspapers sold more copies when they carried pictures. The newspaper covered wars, royal events, scientific invention, and exploration. In 1855 it launched the world's first color supplement. Over the years the publication played host to distinguished contributors, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Wilkie Collins, Rudyard Kipling, and Agatha Christie; and artists such as Melton Prior, William Heath Robinson, F Matania, Mabel Lucie Atwell and H.M. Bateman.

Part I: Women's, Children's, Humor, and Leisure covers the advent of commercial lifestyle publishing in Brtain, with a particular focus on the rarely documented aspects of women, children, humor, and leisure activity in the Victorian Age.

Part II: Empire covers the role of Britain as an imperial power throughout the century, and includes periodicals from Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa.