On 30 December 1819, the British parliament passed the Six Acts (or Gag Acts), which labeled any meeting for radical reform as “an overt act of treasonable conspiracy.” The acts were aimed at gagging radical newspapers (the Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act, the Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act, and the Misdemeanors Act), preventing large meetings (the Seditious Meetings Prevention Act), and reducing what the government saw as the possibility of armed insurrection (the Training Prevention Act and the Seizure of Arms Act). Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

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by David Rettenmaier

On 13 August 1836, the Newspaper Act was passed, an Act to Consolidate and Amend the Laws relating to the Conveyance of Newspapers by the Post. The bill reduced the stamp duty on newspapers to 1d, thus allowing the channels for communication to increase dramatically. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Elaine Hadley, “On Opinion Politics and the Ballot Act of 1872″

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by David Rettenmaier

The introduction of the Penny Post in 1840, the rapid expansion of the rail network in the UK, and the introduction of steamships on the transatlantic routes, created the optimum conditions for writing letters. Prior to 1840, the cost of inland postage was prohibitively expensive; it was calculated according to the number of sheets multiplied by the distance traveled. Additional charges were often levied and the burden of payment fell on the recipient, which did nothing to encourage frequent communication. The Penny Post Act drastically reduced the cost of an inland letter to a universal flat rate of just one penny for a half an ounce, and the introduction of the prepaid penny stamp removed the deterrent to accepting a letter.

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Susan Donovan, “How the Post Office and Postal Products Shaped Mid-Nineteenth-Century Letter-Writing”

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by David Rettenmaier

On July 17 1841, Punch, a mass-circulation periodical, was launched.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

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by David Rettenmaier

On May 14 1842, The Illustrated London News, a mass-circulation periodical, was launched. Image: Masthead of the Illustrated London News. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

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by David Rettenmaier

Prior to 1848, a postal war between the US and Britain had resulted in prohibitively high charges for transatlantic mail—with the American post office levying a surcharge of up to 8 cents for incoming mail. An agreement was eventually reached under the Postal Convention of 1848 which governed postal relations with the United States for nearly twenty years. A single rate of 1s 0d. now prepaid a letter to its final destination with no extra charge expected from the recipient. Exact date unknown; if you have information about the correct date, please email felluga@purdue.edu with this information.

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Susan Donovan, “How the Post Office and Postal Products Shaped Mid-Nineteenth-Century Letter-Writing”

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by David Rettenmaier

Held from May to October of 1851, “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations” was opened by Queen Victoria in the structure built to house it, the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, London. Image: Interior view of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London during the Great Exhibition of 1851. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 was an event in the history of: exhibitions; world’s fairs; consumerism; imperialism; architecture; collections; things; glass and material culture in general; visual culture; attention and inattention; distraction. Its ostensible purposes, as stated by the organizing commission and various promoters, most notably Prince Albert, were chiefly to celebrate the industry and ingeniousness of various world cultures, primarily the British, and to inform and educate the public about the achievement, workmanship, science and industry that produced the numerous and multifarious objects and technologies on display. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Crystal Palace (pictured above) was a structure of iron and glass conceptually derived from greenhouses and railway stations, but also resembling the shopping arcades of Paris and London. The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations became a model for World’s Fairs, by which invited nations showcased the best in manufacturing, design, and art, well into the twentieth century.

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Audrey Jaffe, "On the Great Exhibition"

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Aviva Briefel, "On the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition"

Anne Helmreich, “On the Opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 1854″

Anne Clendinning, “On The British Empire Exhibition, 1924-25″

Barbara Leckie, “Prince Albert’s Exhibition Model Dwellings”

Carol Senf, “‘The Fiddler of the Reels’: Hardy’s Reflection on the Past”

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by David Rettenmaier

On 15 June 1855, the Stamp Act was passed, an act to amend the laws relating to the stamp duties on newspapers, and to provide for the transmission by post of printed periodical publications. The act abolished the stamp duty on newspapers, thus reducing the cost of such publications (for instance, the Manchester Guardian's price went from 7d. to 2d.) and facilitating the mass dissemination of the new medium of communication. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Elaine Hadley, “On Opinion Politics and the Ballot Act of 1872″

Claudia Nelson, “Mass Media Meets Children’s Literature, 1899: E. Nesbit’s The Story of the Treasure Seekers”

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by David Rettenmaier

On 25 August 1862, London Victoria Station was opened, connecting London to the Kent coast.

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Paul Fyfe, “On the Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1830″

Nancy Rose Marshall, “On William Powell Frith’s Railway Station, April 1862″

Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton, “‘Coquetting amid incredible landscapes’: Women on the River and the Railway”

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by David Rettenmaier

‪From 6 November to 22 December 1872, Jules Verne's ‬Around the World in Eighty Days‪ is serialized in ‬Le Temps‪. The review's circulation booms, and shipping lines and railroads vie to be mentioned in the text, a phenomenon sometimes regarded as the first example of product placement. In an example of the intersection of commerce and literature, the novel contains a host of references to contemporary businesses and products.‬ Image: Restored photograph of Jules Verne by Félix Nadar circa 1878. This image is in the public domain in the United States as its copyright has expired.

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Claudia Nelson, “Mass Media Meets Children’s Literature, 1899: E. Nesbit’s The Story of the Treasure Seekers”

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by David Rettenmaier

Thomas Alva Edison conceived of and developed the tinfoil phonograph between July and December 1877. The tinfoil phonograph entailed applying malleable foil to the phonograph cylinder for indentation by a stylus attached to a diaphragm.

Image: Illustration from “Patent Application, Thomas Alva Edison, April 17th, 1890.” _Edison Papers Digital Edition_. Web. 7 Nov. 2019.

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Jason Camlot, "The First Phonogramic Poem: Conceptions of Genre and Media Format, Circa 1888"

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Jules Law, "Victorian Virtual Reality"

Christopher Keep, "The Introduction of the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, 1874"

Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier

Thomas Alva Edison filed for a patent for the tinfoil phonograph on 24 December 1877. The tinfoil phonograph entailed applying malleable foil to the phonograph cylinder for indentation by a stylus attached to a diaphragm.

Image: Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…

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Jason Camlot, "The First Phonogramic Poem: Conceptions of Genre and Media Format, Circa 1888"

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Jules Law, "Victorian Virtual Reality"

Christopher Keep, "The Introduction of the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, 1874"

Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier

Thomas Alva Edison was issued with a patent for the tinfoil phonograph on 19 February 1878. The tinfoil phonograph entailed applying malleable foil to the phonograph cylinder for indentation by a stylus attached to a diaphragm.

Image: Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…

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Jason Camlot, "The First Phonogramic Poem: Conceptions of Genre and Media Format, Circa 1888"

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Jules Law, "Victorian Virtual Reality"

Christopher Keep, "The Introduction of the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, 1874"

Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier

In Thomas Alva Edison’s update on “The Perfected Phonograph” (1888), he reported that, instead of foil sheets, “wax cylinders can be sent through the mail in little boxes which I have prepared for that purpose, and then put upon another phonograph at a distant point, to be listened to by a friend or business correspondent” (647).

Edison, Thomas Alva. “The Perfected Phonograph.” The North American Review 146 (1888): 641-650. JSTOR. Web. 8 Nov. 2019.

Image: Illustration from “Patent Application, Thomas Alva Edison, April 17th, 1890.” _Edison Papers Digital Edition_. Web. 7 Nov. 2019.

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Jason Camlot, "The First Phonogramic Poem: Conceptions of Genre and Media Format, Circa 1888"

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Jules Law, "Victorian Virtual Reality"

Christopher Keep, "The Introduction of the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, 1874"

Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier

On 20 February 1896, Robert W. Paul exhibits his moving-image projection, the “Theatrograph,” at Finsbury Technical College in London. This was the most successful British equivalent of the French film projector, dubbed the “Cinématographe.” The Cinématographe was exhibited the previous year, 1895, by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Paul’s machine was later renamed the “Animatograph.” Image: Screenshot from Robert W. Paul's film Blackfriars Bridge (1896), exhibited at the Alhambra Music Hall in Leicester Square in 1896. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier

On 25 March 1896, Robert W. Paul exhibits his moving-image projection, renamed the “Animatograph,” at the Alhambra Music Hall in Leicester Square. This moving-image projector was originally named the “Theatograph” at an earlier unveiling on 20 February 1896. Paul’s machine was the most successful British equivalent of the French film projector, dubbed the “Cinématographe.” The Cinématographe was exhibited the previous year, 1895, by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Image: Screenshot from Robert W. Paul's film Blackfriars Bridge (1896), exhibited at the Alhambra Music Hall in Leicester Square in 1896. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Garrett Stewart, "Curtain Up on Victorian Popular Cinema; Or, The Critical Theater of the Animatograph"

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by David Rettenmaier