Dr. Anne Clendinning
Assistant Professor
History Department
Nipissing University
The term "Victorian" conjures up conservative stereotypes of prudish behavior and tasteless furnishings. With the assistance of writers like Lytton Strachey, by the early years of the 20 th century, to be Victorian was to be old-fashioned. In reality, however, the Victorians lived in a rapidly changing society, affected by urbanization, technology and political radicalism; they considered themselves every bit as modern as the post World War I generation that later criticized them.
This course invites students into the Victorian era in an attempt to get past the myths and see the Victorians as they lived and thought. Thematic readings and discussions consider such topics as the social order and class consciousness; the construction of gender roles and separate spheres; literacy and the education of the working class; popular responses to Imperialism; and the developing importance of sport, leisure and the mass market for consumer goods. While enhancing our understanding of the nineteenth-century, written assignments, course readings and classroom discussions will develop skills aimed at critical reading, analytical writing and the application of scholarly research practices.
A. N. Wilson, The Victorians . ( London , Random House, 2002.) Available in the campus bookstore, or Chapters on-line.
Recommended general texts: either one of these textbooks is fine, and helpful, especially if you have not taken a previous course in the history of Britain
Walter Arnstein, Britain Yesterday and Today ( New York : Houghton Mifflin, 2001).
This is a general textbook for nineteenth century British history and was used as a course text for History 2405 in 2002-2003.
Clayton Roberts, David Roberts and Douglas R. Bisson, A History of England : 1688 to the Present ( Upper Saddle River , New Jersey : Prentice Hall, 2002 ed.).
Students who do not have some previous knowledge of British history are advised to secure a copy of either text book for general background reading.
Courseware Package: an extensive selection of essays assembled by the instructor; is available in the campus bookshop. This is required reading material for the course, and the selections from this book are not readily available in our library or on J-stor. Courseware is expensive, given the costs of production and royalties, however it also saves you the time of finding and photocopying the reading selections yourselves. I hope you agree.
Term One
| Article Commentaries | 10% |
| First Person Narrative Paper | 20% |
| Participation | 10% |
| (5% presentations; 10% class discussion) | |
Term Two
| Film Review | 5% |
| Bibliography | 5% |
| Major Research Paper | 30% |
| Participation | 15% |
| (5% presentations; 10% class discussion) | |
Article Commentaries:
Students are asked to write two critical commentaries based on 4 articles assigned over the term, found on J-stor and in the courseware package. Students will select the four articles they wish to comment on. In the commentary, identify the subject of each article, the thesis and argument of the article, and your thoughts on the piece. Consider these as a series of short comparative reviews. You may select from any of the articles that we are doing in the first term of the course.
Each critical commentary will deal with two articles and is valued at 5%, for a total of 10%. Students must submit both commentaries no later than October 19, but I will be happy to accept one or both of them earlier, if this is more convenient for you. Required length of each commentary: 2 pages for each article.
Primary Source Report:
This exercise will enable us, as a class, to build a list of primary sources that are available and accessible for Nipissing students. Find at least one primary source at could be used in our class on Victorian Britain. The source must be accessible to Nipissing students, so it must be either in our library, on a website or available via our electronic books or sources. It must be a primary source that could be used to study about Victorian Britain. You may not use sources that are already included in our class readings, nor may the source be an excerpt in a published collection, like the The Past Speaks ; or a collection of published photographs from the Victorian era. You must dig a little deeper. I want you to go out and find resources that are useful and readily available to the class. Once you have decided on the source, prepare a short description of the source, to be presented to the seminar. Tell us where the source is located; or provide a call number or URL for a website; give the title and author and publisher; provide some context for the source, that is, what the source is and what it was originally used for; and its value to historians learning about the Victorian era. Write up the above information (not more than 1 page) and submit that to the class, as part of your presentation. Submit a hard copy on the morning of your presentation, and I will make copies for the class, if you are concerned about the expense. By the end of the term, we will have a dossier of primary sources in our library and at our finger tips, that could be used for the first term essays.
We will begin the Primary Source Reports on October 5 and have one report each class. For this assignment, you will work with a partner. Value 5% of your participation mark.
First Person Narrative Paper:
Students are asked to write a paper in the first person narrative voice, from the perspective of a person in the Victorian era. Based on primary and secondary source readings, formulate a character and record the experiences of your historical character and their observations of a major historical event. The paper may take the form of several entries in a diary, a series of letters written about an event, or a travel journal. For example, your character might be a skilled iron foundry worker from Birmingham who has traveled to London to see the Great Exhibition. From the perspective of the workman, and in his voice, record his experiences in London . Write about his journey to London , how he got there, where he stayed, and what he thought of the exhibition. What were his impressions of London ? What did purchase in London if anything? How did this experience alter his view of industrialization?
This is not a purely creative exercise and you must include a bibliography of primary and secondary sources;
and reference the work with footnotes. This is a chance for students to assume the voice of a primary source in a sense,
to try and appreciate what it may have been like to live in the nineteenth-century. Further instructions for this assignment
will be discussed in class, along with possible approaches to constructing your historical character.
While this is a role-playing exercise, the paper must convey information about the Victorian era, regarding standards of living,
class relations, food, dress, shelter, changes in modes of transportation, the impact of technology on everyday life and the
political climate of the day .
Length: 8-10 pages.
Due: Wednesday November 23.
Film Review: The Victorians in Film (5%)
During the second term, we will watch the film Topsey Turvey . Students are asked to write a critical film review, on some aspect of this film, and how its portrayal of the Victorian era. Required length: 2 pages. Due date: week following the screening.
Major Essay:
Students are required to write an essay on the topic of their choice.
The paper may examine a particular question pertaining to the historiography of the Victorian era.
Alternatively, you may chose to write about a subject that has a special interest to you. Use the course readings to help you
develop a topic, or if there is something that you do not see on the course outline,
this is also your opportunity to explore that area. In advance of writing the paper, students must submit a proposal and bibliography
(1-2 pages) outlining their topic, and listing secondary and primary sources to be consulted.
Students will also be asked to meet with the instructor to discuss their essay topic and proposed sources.
Length of the final paper: 20 pages text, plus bibliography.
The bibliography and proposal is due February 1-8, 2005 (Value 5%).
The paper is due at the end of the course, no later than Wednesday April 12, 2005 . (Value 30%).
Penalties for late work Late assignments will be deducted 2 % per day, not including weekends, to a maximum penalty of 20%; after which the assignment will not be accepted by the instructor. In circumstances where a student may require an extension for health reasons (or under mitigating circumstances), the student must consult with me as soon as possible, and provide legitimate documentation if requested.
Academic dishonesty By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in the scholarly community of Nipissing University . As such, everyone's academic work and behavior are held to high standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication and plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts, are all forms of academic dishonesty. Academic misconduct will result in disciplinary action. Please read the Policy on Academic Dishonesty; see Nipissing University Calendar, 2003-04, under Student Policies, particularly if you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism. Pleading ignorance is no excuse. All references must be properly cited.
There is a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism in effect in this course. Any amount of plagiarized work will result in disciplinary action: an automatic zero for the assignment and written notification to the Dean of Arts and Science for a first offence. The office of the Dean of Arts and Science deals with second offences. Written assignments may be checked by plagiarism-detection software .
Week One: September 14
Introduction: In search of the Victorians and some first impressions
Week Two: September 21
The Early Victorians: Setting the Stage
A.N. Wilson, The Victorians , Part I, pp. 9-120.
Week Three: September 28
The Politics of Class: Chartism and History
What were the basic objectives of the Chartist movement, and were they successful? Why or why not, according to the accounts of historians?
Asa Briggs, 'The Language of "Class" in Early Nineteenth-Century England ', in Asa Briggs and John Saville eds., Essays in Labour History ( London and New York : Macmillan's/ St. Martin 's Press), pp. 43-73. (hand out for class).
Miles Taylor, 'Rethinking the Chartists: Searching for Synthesis in the Historiography of Chartism', The Historical Journal , vol. 39, no. 2 (June 1996), p. 479-495. [J-stor]
John Plotz, 'Crowd Power: Chartism, Carlyle and the Victorian Public Sphere,' Representations , no. 70 (Spring, 2000), 87-114. [J-stor]
Andrew Messner, 'Land, Leadership, Culture and Emigration: Some Problems in Chartist Historiography,' The Historical Journal , vol. 42, no. 4 (December 1999), 1093-1109. [J-stor]
Week Four: October 5
Getting a Living: Working Men and Women
What were conditions like for working people in the early Victorian era?
John Burnett, Plenty and Want: a social history of food in England from 1815 to the present day (London: Scolar Press, 1979), chaps. 2-3. (pp. 30-73). [courseware]
ISBN 0 85967 462.
Sally Alexander, 'Women's Work in Nineteenth-Century London; a study of the years 1820-50', in Juliet Mitchell and Ann Oakley, The Rights and Wrongs of Women (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1977), 59-111. [courseware]
John C. Cobden, The White Slaves of England , reprint of 1853 edition (Shannon: University of Ireland Press , 1971.), pp. 379-432. (hand out)
Week Five: October 12
Study Week: work on articles reviews
Week Six: October 19
Narratives of Progress and Prosperity: 1851A.N. Wilson, The Victorians , chap.12-13, (pp. 123-174.)
Thomas Richards , Commodity Culture of Victorian England : Advertising and Spectacle 1851-1914 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), chap. 1 (17-71).
Asa Briggs, 'The Crystal Palace and the Men of 1851', Victorian People (University of Chicago Press, 1970), 15-51.
ISBN 0 226 07490
Week Seven: October 26
Victorian Values: The Gospel of Work and Respectability Why did the Victorians put so much faith in the value of hard work? Was this faith justified?Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957), chap. 1 (pp. 1-23) [courseware]
J.F.C. Harrison, The Victorian Gospel of Success, Victorian Studies , vol. 1 (1957), pp. 155-64. [courseware]
Keith McClelland, 'Masculinity and the "Representative Artisan" in Britain ' in Manful Assertions : Masculinities in Britain Since 1800 , Michael Roper and John Tosh ed. (Routledge: London and New York, 1991), 74-91. [courseware]
Thomas Wright, Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes by a Journeyman Engineer [1867], reprints of Economic Classics (New York: Augustus M. Kelly, 1967), pp. 82-107. [couseware]
Week Eight: November 2
Education and English Identity
How were Queen and country reflected in England 's education system? What did it mean to be 'English'?
A.N. Wilson, The Victorians , chaps. 14; 16; 18; pp. 175-200; 224-244. 273-294.
Elizabeth Langland, 'Nation and Nationality: Queen Victoria in the developing Narrative of Englishness', in Margaret Homans and Adrienne Munich (eds.), Remaking Queen Victoria ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 13-32.
Stephen Heathorne, 'Let us remember that we, too, are English': Constructions of Citizenship and National Identity in English Elementary School Reading Books, 1880-1914', Victorian Studies , vol. 38, 3 (Spring, 1995), 395-427. [courseware]
Week Nine: November 9
The Victorians at Home: The Ideology of Separate Spheres
What accounts for the 'separate sphere' model? Is it an accurate characterization of Victorian middle class life?
Amanda Viceroy, 'Golden Age to Separate Spheres? A Review of the Categories and Chronology of English Women's History', The Historical Journal , 36, 2 (June 1993), 383-414. [J-stor]
Catherine Hall, 'The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick-maker: the shop and the family in the Industrial Revolution' in White, Male and Middle Class: explorations in feminism and history (London and New York: Routledge, 1992), chap. 3, (75-93); chap. 5; 108-123. [courseware]
Mrs. Sarah Ellis, excerpt from Daughters of England [hand out]
Week Ten: November 16
Class, Gender and Marriage
How did class effect the circumstances of married and family life?
John Tosh, 'Domesticity and Manliness in the Victorian Middle Class: the family of Edward White Benson' in Michael Roper and John Tosh, eds., Manful Assertions: Masculinities in Britain Since 1800 (Routledge: London and New York, 1991), 44-73.
ISBN 0 415 05323 4 [courseware]
Ellen Ross, 'Fierce Questions and taunts', Married Life in working-class London, 1870-1914, in David Feldman and Gareth Stedman Jones, eds. Metropolis London: Histories and representations since 1800 (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), chap. 9 (219-244). [courseware]
Leonore Davidoff, 'Class and Gender in Victorian England: the case of Hannah Cullwick and A.J. Munby', Worlds Between: Historical Perspectives on Gender and Class (Routledge: London, 1995), 103-150. [courseware]
Week Eleven: November 23
Victorian Feminism and the Women's Movement
What were the goals of the Victorian women's movement? Is it a contradiction in terms to speak of Victorian feminism?
• N. Wilson , The Victorians, chap. 20, pp. 305-321.
Martha Vicinus, Independent Women: work and community for single women, 1850-1920 (Virago, 1985), pp. 10-45. [courseware]
Lucy Bland, 'The Married Woman, the 'New Woman' and the Feminist: Sexual Politics of the 1890s', in Jane Rendall ed., Equal or Different: Women's Politics, 1800-1914 ( Oxford : 1987), pp. 141-164. [courseware]
Week Twelve: November 30
Victorian Urban Spaces, Part I
What challenges did the Victorians face as a result of urbanization? How did they cope?
Asa Briggs, Victorian Cities (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1968), chap. 2, 59-87.
Anthony S. Wohl, 'Unfit for Human Habitation', The Victorian City : images and realities , vol. 2, ed. H.J. Dyos and Michael Wolff (London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973), 603-623.
ISBN 0 7100 7383
Bill Luckin, 'The heart and home of horror': the great London fogs of the late nineteenth century, Social History , vol. 28, 1 (January 2003), pp. 31-48. Class hand out.
James Greenwood, The Wilds of London (New York and London: Garland, 1874), pp. 31-55; 149-157. (handout for the class).
Week Thirteen: Dec. 7
Sex and the City: Victorian Urban Spaces, Part II
To what extent does class and gender partition urban spaces?
Margot Finn, 'Sex and the City', Victorian Studies , Summer 2001. [courseware]
Judith Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight : narratives of sexual danger in Late-Victorian London (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), chap. 3-4 (pp. 81-134).
ISBN 0 226 87146 0 [courseware]
Peter Bailey, 'The Victorian barmaid as cultural prototype', in Popular Culture and Performance in the Victorian City (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), chap. 7 (151-174). [courseware]
ISBN 0 521 57417 x
Thematic Topics: Winter TERM, 2006
Week One: January 11
Literacy and Popular Print Culture
A.N. Wilson, The Victorians , review chap. 18 and Heathorne article from last term; read chap. 31, pp. 461-477.
Michael Wolff and Celina Fox, 'Pictures from the Magazines', in The Victorian City: images and realities, vol. 2, in H.J. Dyos and Michael Wolff eds. (London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973), 559-582. [courseware]
ISBN 0 7100 7383
John Springhall, 'Disseminating Impure Literature: The Penny Dreadful Publishing Business Since 1860', Economic History Review , new series, vol. 47, no. 3 (August 1994), p. 567-584.
Week Two: January 18
Victorian Sports and Entertainment
Hugh Cunningham, Leisure in the Industrial Revolution (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980), chapter 5 (140-191). [couseware]
ISBN 0 312 47894 1
Douglas A. Reid, 'Beasts and brutes: popular blood sports c. 1780-1860', in Sport and the working class in modern Britain , Richard Holt, ed. (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1990), pp. 12-28. [courseware] ISBN 0 7190 2650 4
John K. Walton, 'The Demand for Working-class Seaside Holidays in Victorian England,' Economic History Review , new series, vol. 34, no. 2 (May 1981), pp. 249-265. [J-stor]
Week Three: January 25
Class, Gender and Victorian Consumer Culture
Erika Rappaport, 'A Husband and His Wife's Dresses': Consumer Credit and the Debtor Family in England , 1864-1914, in The Sex of Things: gender and consumption in historical perspective, Victoria de Grazia (ed) (Berkley: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 163-188. [courseware]
Christopher Breward, The Hidden Consumer: Masculinities, Fashion and the City Life, 1860-1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), chap. 3. [courseware].
Christopher P. Hosgood, 'Mercantile Monasteries: Shops, Shop Assistants and Shop Life in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain , Journal of British Studies 38 (July 1999), 322-352. [J-stor]
Selections from George Grosz, Diary of a Nobody : class hand out.
Week Four: February 1
Victoria's Empire: Imperialism and Popular Culture, Part I
A.N. Wilson, The Victorians , chaps. 33, 34 and 35 (pp. 486-507).
John Darwin, 'Imperialism and the Victorians: the dynamics of Territorial Expansion', English Historical Review, vol. 112, no. 447 (June 1997), pp. 614-642. [J-stor]
John M. Mackenzie, Propaganda and Empire, 1880-1960 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), introduction (1-14); chap. 2 (39-66). [courseware]
ISBN 0 7190 1869 2
Week Five: February 8
Imperialism and Popular Culture Part II
Annie E. Coombes, Reinventing Africa: Museums, Material Culture and Popular Imagination ( New Haven and London : Yale University Press), chapter 1 (p. 7-28); chapter 6 (109-128). [courseware]
ISBN 0 300 06890 5
Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: race, gender and sexuality in the colonial contest (New York: Routledge, 1995), chap. 5 (pp. 207-231). ISBN 0 415 90890 6 [courseware]
Week Six: February 15
Victorian Popular Theatre
A.N.Wilson, The Victorians , chap. 26 & 37, pp. 409-424; 521-529;
Peter Bailey, 'Music Hall and the knowingness of popular culture', in Popular Culture and Performance in the Victorian City (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), chap. 7 (128-150). [courseware]
Week Seven: February 22
Study Week
Week 8: March 1
Death and the End of an Era
• N. Wilson , The Victorians , chap. 39; chap. 41, 42, 43 (pp. 539-547; 572-619).
Pat Jalland, Death in the Victorian Family (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), chaps. 2 and 9.
Week Nine: March 8
Film: Topsy Turvey (1999)
Director Mike Leigh captures the look and feel of the Victorian comic theatre in this biopic about Gilbert and Sullivan.
While musical theatre may not be to everyone's taste, the film is essentially a character piece set in late Victorian London,
and Timothy Spall is wonderful as the aging frustrated thespian. With all the exaggerated tackiness one might expect from music
hall farce, Andrew Lloyd Weber learned it all from these chaps.
Length: 159 minutes. Yes, it's long, so bring food.
Week Ten: March 15
Student Presentations
Week Eleven: March 22
Student Presentations
Week Twelve: March 31
Student Presentations
Week Thirteen: April 5
Student Presentations; final essays due the following Wednesday