My short article on the nineteenth-century Bengali poet Toru Dutt's sonnets has been published in the @jofvictculture.bsky.social online. I am deeply grateful for this incredible opportunity. Please find the link to the blog post: jvc.oup.com/2025/09/04/r....

🎶From reverent compositions to subversive street ballads🎶 Queen Victoria’s image was contested and co-opted through 19th-century popular song. Learn more about the monarch’s complex cultural after life in music: jvc.oup.com/2021/09/16/m...

With Mother's Day on the horizon, take a look at this article by Jessica Cox where she connects breast-feeding in Victorian advice books with “Mansplaining.“🤰🏼 Read here: doi.org/10.1093/jvcu...

Breaking in your spring shoes? Have a look at Veronica Isaac's blogpost and these gorgeous satin boots - perhaps a pair of 'padded symmetricals' too! To hear more about these and the fascinating history of C19 music hall culture, read here: jvc.oup.com/2021/04/01/k...

Explore how 19th-c. literature—particularly works by Dickens and George Borrow—offers insight into the itinerant and Romani populations absent from the 1841 British census. Read here: jvc.oup.com/2025/04/14/i... #journalofvictorianculture #VictorianStudies

Alice Perrin’s gothic short story The Biscobra unleashes a creature of myth, science, and empire. A deadly lizard, a reincarnated child, and the collapse of imperial reason. Check out this blog post: jvc.oup.com/2022/06/03/t...

From the Salvation Army’s 19th-century strategies to today’s ethical shopping trends, our choices reflect personal identity & wider societal impact. Check out this blog post: jvc.oup.com/2022/08/22/c...

JVC Essay Prize Winner Sarah Betts, speaking on 'The Afterlife of a Stuart Princess' - to find out more, read her winning (open access) essay here: academic.oup.com/jvc/advance-...

🦷In Victorian fiction, false teeth were more than a cosmetic fix—they were a symbol of deception and hidden truths🦷 Learn how Thackeray used dentures to expose characters' secrets here: jvc.oup.com/2022/10/21/f... #journalofvictorianculture #VictorianLiterature #Victorian #19thcentury

👧Utopian child's play🧒H.G. Wells and Edith Nesbit believed play could change the future. Explore how their game manuals critiqued capitalism, nurtured imagination, and shaped a new vision for society: jvc.oup.com/2022/12/02/s...

Deadly decor? Did you know Victorian wallpapers could be deadly? Arsenic-laced pigments were common, and the consequences were tragic. From health risks to even murder, discover how "Arsenic's Golden Age" affected the world of wallpaper💀: jvc.oup.com/2023/12/14/a...

From Dickens to Burnett, the Victorian domestic hearth symbolizes comfort, warmth, and social contrast. Check out this blog post for a deep dive into the complexities of the hearth in 19th-century fiction. It's totally lit...🔥: jvc.oup.com/2024/03/01/t...

Learn more about miniature melodramas and pantomimes and how publishers like William West bridged the gap between London's grand theatres and these juvenile performances🎭✨ Read here: jvc.oup.com/2020/02/07/t... #TheatreHistory #19thCentury #journalofvictorianculture

From tales of madness and mistreatment to shocking crimes, explore how the British press shaped perceptions of vagrants. Read more here: jvc.oup.com/2020/02/14/m... #journalofvictorianculture #19thcentury #victorian

Explore the depths of the 19th century with Thomas Wallace Knox's Underground: Or, Life Below the Surface. From the catacombs to philosophical musings on society’s underworlds, read more about how subterranean spaces shaped moral and cultural ideas: jvc.oup.com/2020/01/24/m...

Check out the surprising similarities between Ellen Wood’s middle-class melodramas & today’s guilty-pleasure films. Read to discover how 19th-century sensation novels like East Lynne (1861) compare to modern Lifetime movies: jvc.oup.com/2024/04/18/e...

For the 175th anniversary of Mary De Morgan, a new play celebrates her imagination. The Vegan Tigress is getting great reviews: "The writing is sharp, funny, and fast-paced [...] It was with childlike wonder that I soaked up this story ****" everything-theatre.co.uk/2025/02/revi... @LynchPinTheatre

🎪Come one, come all!🎪Read how P.T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb became global sensations while on their 1844 European tour: jvc.oup.com/2025/02/05/p... #Barnum #TomThumb #VictorianEra #journalofvictorianculture #19thcentury

Love is in the air... and in the pudding!❤️You too could tackle Mrs. Beeton’s Half-Pay Pudding for a sweet Valentine's Day treat🍰 Check it out: jvc.oup.com/2012/04/22/m... #ValentinesDay #journalofvictorianculture #19thcentury #nineteenthcentury #baking #Victorian #greatbritishbakeoff

Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom: call for lesson plans on global decadence and aestheticism. More info here: jvc.oup.com/events-and-c...

Weird fiction? Yes, please. Rediscover Robert Murray Gilchrist, an often forgotten talent who influenced weird fiction long before Lovecraft, and his hybrid femme fatale/maternal archetypes as they challenge gender norms: jvc.oup.com/2024/11/26/t... #gothic #weirdfiction #Lovecraft

JVC Prize Essay Talk, 'The Afterlife of a Stuart Princess in Victorian Culture ', by Sarah Betts. Join us on Thursday 27th March, 6pm, Royal Holloway Picture Gallery. More info here: jvc.oup.com/events-and-c...

In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell highlights how conflict fuels female agency. From Margaret Hale's activism to Bessy Higgins's resistance, check out how Gaskell portrays women breaking free from societal constraints: jvc.oup.com/2025/01/27/f... . . . #nineteenthcentury #victorianera #Gaskell

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights isn’t just a tragic romance. It’s a radical critique of patriarchy, class, and oppression. Time to revisit this often misunderstood masterpiece: jvc.oup.com/2020/03/24/t... #WutheringHeights #EmilyBrontë #19thcentury #journalofvictrianculture

[New post] Alysha Ladha on the importance of Patrick Brontë. She argues that his 'emphasis on personal responsibility, commitment to justice, and belief in the transformative power of faith' are reflected in his daughters' novels. Read more: jvc.oup.com/2025/01/17/p...

Sherlock, who? Let me introduce you to the “petticoated police.” Explore how early female detectives like Mrs. Paschal, G, and others used intuition and embodied observation to crack cases. #19thcentury #Sherlock #victorian Link: jvc.oup.com/2020/05/22/t...

🎭 Costumes beyond the stage🎭 Discover the hidden meanings and histories of iconic garments from Ellen Terry’s Beetlewing Dress to Edwin Moxon’s embroidered shorts and explore how these costumes shaped performance and audience expectations. Read more: jvc.oup.com/2020/07/02/c...

In the 19th century, opiates were marketed to women as miracle cures. But the widespread use of laudanum led to addiction and had horrible consequences. Discover the dark history of opium in this fascinating blog post: jvc.oup.com/2020/12/18/t...

From the *wandering womb* to Victorian cures like vibrating machines, the history of hysteria is a wild ride. Discover how ancient beliefs and 19th-century science shaped the diagnosis that still echoes today: jvc.oup.com/2021/03/04/h...

Dig up the history of 19th-century medicine! From the rise of medical schools to the secretive world of body-snatching, uncover how the profession transformed during a time of rapid change!🩺💀 jvc.oup.com/2021/04/15/b...

Roseanne Ganley discusses H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds! Martians have evolved as the superior race in Wells' world and the text offers readers the opportunity to reflect on human evolution. Read here: jvc.oup.com/2020/02/24/h...

Dive back into Issue 26.2! Gemma Almond directs our attention to the design of Victorian spectacle and eyeglass frames–locating its role in Victorian constructions of ‘normalcy’ and ‘abnormalcy’ in regard to the body. Read here: academic.oup.com/jvc/article/...

Since the #MeToo movement, self-defense classes have empowered women both physically and mentally. Discover the history of women's self-defense, from Edith Garrud's Ju Jutsu classes for suffragettes to today's trauma-informed martial arts programs: jvc.oup.com/2021/09/02/w... #19thcentury

Lions and tigers and women, oh my! Read about the Victorian women who braved the lion’s cage! From Mrs. King, the first recorded "Lion Queen," to Ellen Chapman, the most famous of them all, the performances of these fearless women left a roaring legacy jvc.oup.com/2021/08/19/v... #nineteenthcentury

🌿From Victorian window gardening to today's #plantmoms and #plantdads, houseplants have always been for more than just decoration. Check out how the plant trend has bloomed and blossomed over time, connecting people and boosting well-being.🌿https://jvc.oup.com/2021/05/06/victorian-plantparenthood/

🎮 Final Fantasy VIII merges Victorian occultism, empire, and time travel in a neo-imperial narrative. Check out this blog post to explore how the game critiques gender, magic, and imperialism. 👑 jvc.oup.com/2021/08/26/n...

Who said the Victorians were prudes? From bawdy limericks to clever jokes about "red ink" accidents, check out how menstrual humor was embraced in 19th-century erotic poems. It is, indeed, "Bloody Hilarious." jvc.oup.com/2021/11/11/m... #journalofvictorianculture #19thcentury

“Come on, gang, we’ve got a mystery to solve!🐕🔍” Bensimon searches for clues to answer unsolved mysteries regarding the daguerreotypes of the April 1848 Chartist meeting, revealing insights into the working-class struggle and Victorian labor #19thcentury academic.oup.com/jvc/article/...

👻🔍Explore the connection between Sherlock Holmes and Spiritualism, including a fascinating case involving the mediums Mr. & Mrs. Holmes who might have inspired Doyle's iconic detective! 🔎👻https://jvc.oup.com/2022/09/02/the-curious-case-of-mr-and-mrs-holmes/ #journalofvictorianculture #19thcentury

🎮🕵️‍♂️It's game time! From Sherlock Holmes to Scrooge, the Victorian era has long inspired the world of video games. A world of intrigue awaits! Your quest, should accept it: read this post jvc.oup.com/2023/02/03/v... #journalofvictorianculture #RetroGames #SherlockHolmes #Dickens #aliceinwonderland

From Bradford to Liverpool, #JackTheRipper's letters played a role in shaping stereotypes and affirming northern cultural significance. Matthew Gurteen reckons with a complex regional identity struggle in this blog post #truecrime #19thcentury jvc.oup.com/2022/08/04/r...

💌❤️Swipe right on this blog post❤️💌 From love letters to matrimonial ads, the Victorian press helped shape the way we court today. Discover how the “brief madness” of 19th-century matchmaking foreshadowed modern dating sites like eHarmony and match! jvc.oup.com/2012/02/13/m...

Explore the significance of Sophie Gengembre Anderson tender, Tennyson-inspired Elaine of Astolat in John McLoughlin's "Take Me to the River: Sophie Anderson and Elaine of Astolat." academic.oup.com/jvc/article/...

Victoria Mills explores the legacy of Kingsley’s Hypatia. Her article "Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia, Visual Culture and Late-Victorian Gender Politics" unpacks the ways this 1852 novel and its various reimaginings influenced late-Victorian gender politics. Link in bio! #19thcentury #Victorianstudies

🧑‍⚖️Law and Gender: SVU (Swooning Victims Unit)🧑‍⚖️ Learn how the trope of the swooning woman influenced legal narratives and shaped perceptions of female bodies in court with "‘Under Cross-Examination She Fainted’: Sexual Crime and Swooning in the Victorian Courtroom." academic.oup.com/jvc/article/...

Rethink the role of place in literary history, read "The ‘wilds of Brompton’: Mapping Nineteenth-Century Women Writers’ Early Careers in the Sociable London Suburbs" by Karen Bourrier, Dan Jacobson, and John Brosz! Link in bio!

✨New cover, who dis?✨ A new issue of the journal has dropped! Check out its open access articles here: academic.oup.com/jvc/issue #journalofvictorianculture #jvc #19thcentury #nineteenthcentury #19thcenturystudies #Literature #LiteraturePosts

Check out Cramer's investigation into masculinity and needlework during the Victorian gold rush in "Busy, Without Thimbles, at the Needlework." Find out how men stitched together their identity while they navigated and complicated traditional gender norms. Link in bio!

Powerful images! Hedley's “Data Visualization and Population Politics in Pearson’s Magazine" explores how Victorian population journalism combined data visualization with narrative to reflect biopolitics and the management of the British nation. Link in bio!

✨Boozy Behavior, Secret Spirit Sipping, & Domestic Disturbance✨ Celebrate this wine Wednesday by reading David Beckingham’s “Private Spirits, Public Lives” and discover how Victorian women confronted secret drinking and promoted sober citizenship. Link in bio!