Today we communicate through texting, email, FaceTime, and telephones. Writing a letter may seem quaint today, but in the nineteenth century, letters were the chief form of communication. Unsurprisingly, letters play a key role in all of Austen’s Regency novels, but most particularly in Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Persuasion (1818). Using antique and reproduction writing implements from my personal collection and materials from the IdeaLab, students will practice writing with dip pens and ink, try cross-writing (a cost saving measure where one turns a letter 90 degrees and writes over it), fold a letter (rather than use an...
The silhouette--a profile typically done in black and mounted on white--was a popular art form during the 18th and 19th centuries. Indeed, the Regency era when Jane Austen was publishing her novels is the recognized golden age of the silhouette. The term "silhouette" derives from a mid-18th-century French finance minister named Étienne de Silhouette, known to cut paper shadow portraits. The silhouette, a personal memento, became fashionable among genteel patrons of 18th-century and 19th-century Europe and America. Portrait miniatures, which often took the form of silhouettes, were also popular Regency tokens of affection for...
This Gallery features visual elements related to Elizabeth Gaskell's narrative "The Old Nurse's Story" in Haunted Victorians: An Anthology of Literary Exhibitions.
This Gallery features visual elements related to Rabindranath Tagore's narrative "The Skeleton" in Haunted Victorians: An Anthology of Literary Exhibits.
This Gallery features visual elements related to Oscar Wilde's narrative "The Canterville Ghost" in Haunted Victorians: An Anthology of Literary Exhibits.
This Gallery features visual elements related to Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's narrative "Sultana's Dream" in Haunted Victorians: An Anthology of Literary Exhibits.
This Gallery features visual elements related to Charles Dickens's narrative "To Be Read at Dusk" in Haunted Victorians: An Anthology of Literary Exhibits.
An exhibit of some of the locations described in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Discusses how certain descriptions allude to different social classes throughout the novel.
"The Fireside Plate," by George Cruikshank for Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens
This course provides you with the exciting opportunity to engage in primary research by putting together an exhibition on Victorian illustrators. To recall a term from Beverly Serrell’s Exhibit Labels, our “big idea” is an exploration of a range of Victorian illustrators. You may choose an illustrator from the following list, which includes those we have studied this semester (https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/index.html). Images must be in the public domain, so I encourage students to explore The Victorian Web, the British Library, Wikipedia, and The Fox-Adler Collection from our own...
Create galleries of images related to The Woman Question by researching and gathering images related to our readings here. Please see the assignment prompt in Canvas for more info.
Create galleries of images related to the 99% by researching and gathering images related to our readings here. Please see the assignment prompt in Canvas for more info.
Create galleries of images related to the Black Lives Matter unit by researching and gathering images related to our readings here. Please see the assignment prompt in Canvas for more info.
Existentialism is best defined as a form of philospohy regarding the pursuit of an explanation for human existence. Many people seek to find out why they are here, and what their purpose; with the development of a new country from the seventeenth century onward, countless colonists had to figure out as a community what it actually meant to be an American. Throughout American history, numerous authors and artists alike have ventured to figure out what it meant to them to be American. The goal of this gallery is to observe and recognize the developing ideals of the nation alongside the journey of self-discovery that people of numerous backgrounds underwent, from the late eighteenth century onward.
This gallery will feature images that will tell a story of Native American history through the literature, songs, petroglyphs, and speeches of their people. A variety of different Native American tribes and leaders will be featured, in addition to many cultural practices that they partook in. A brief history of the conflict that persisted between these tribes and English colonists will also be highlighted, and the speeches and words of wisdom offered by the leaders of these tribes will be provided and analyzed. Through these experiences, the Native American values, in addition to their respectable character as a whole, will also be discussed. Overall, this gallery will showcase Native American history, practices, and beliefs through an assortment of creation stories, battles, war traditions, and even worship.
This gallery will introduce Dark Romanticism, a literary movement that emerged in the 19th century, explored the darker aspects of human nature and the supernatural. Writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville delved into themes of madness, death, and the unknown, creating works that were both haunting and thought-provoking. One of the key elements of Dark Romanticism was its focus on the individual's inner turmoil and struggle with their own demons. Characters often grappled with guilt, obsession, and inner darkness, reflecting the anxieties and fears of society at the time.Through their exploration of these themes, Dark Romantic writers challenged traditional notions of morality and explored the complexities of human psychology. These works continue to captivate readers today with their eerie atmospheres and psychological depth.
This gallery presents a thought-provoking selection of portraits, images, and other visual works of art that represent the death and rebirth of human legacies, nature, literary movements, cultures, ways of life, and other significant, core characteristics that have defined American history and American literature. The United States, in its almost 250 years of independence, is often known as a place of freedom, and this freedom entails frequent change and new cycles of progress in every age. Simply put, this nation is a land of change and moving away from much of the old. Works displaying events at the time or looking back on the events that have forced the death of one component of the American way of life and the rebirth of it in a different form from the days of Columbus to the early 20th century shall be included here. These visual works of art will also be heavily tied to American writers who have seen and attempted to comprehend these transitions within the country's history...
In the 17th century, chaos began to arise in Salem, Massachusetts. Mysterious illnesses suddenly began to spread like wildfire. One by one, townmembers started to be contained because they were "transmitters" of this disease. Soon, neighboring towns were infected; the only question being who was next? One fatal finger was all that was needed to spread this and costed the lives of many. Then, one day, it all stopped, quiet murmors being the only trace left of the disease. However, this will be a time which will live in infamy: the Salem Witch Trials.
Progress has been one of the defining characteristics of U.S. history; from the Industrial Revolution to Westward Expansion to the Race to the Moon, America established itself as the nation of progress. In many regards, this notion of progress seeps into literature as well, which this exhibit will explore.
When it comes to your everyday history courses, most of the time African American history is glossed over and never talked about. But when African American history is talked about most of the time it is concerning African American males, so with that in mind I decided to take a different route and focus on the African American women and their voices and accompolishments throughout history.
Step into the shadows and explore the haunting allure of "The Macabre" in this exhibit where darkness meets American literature, and artistry to evoke a chilling fascination with the eerie and the supernatural.
This is a collection of images from the London Labour and London Poor, by Henry Mayhew. All of the images are of women and/or girls that are working on the streets throughout the day, including those that are selling fruits on the street to performers on stilts. Mayhew's creation was divdied into 4 volumes published in 1851, mainly broadcasting workers in the 1840's.
Throughout history, The Great Depression takes a large part of it. The world that we live in was in total shambles, economically and socially. People lost their jobs, became homeless and were starving for food on the street. In history, we always want to see it from a first hand persepective. In this gallery, we will see The Great Depression from the eyes of people whose lives were stripped away from them.
Period illustration from "The Regency Reader"
. Silhouette Portrait of the Late 18th Century
"The Fireside Plate," by George Cruikshank for Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens
