What primary sources inspired us as a group?

By Stephanie Austin-Reed

There were a few articles that we weighed upon quite heavily for inspiration in our group work. These articles we found were humorous, informational, and quite useful for our topic as they each expanded our view and knowledge of the Victorian world. They ranged through the topics of both money and travel and sometimes involved both at the same time. In travel, they took us to India, China, and Australia. As far as money, well, it takes money to travel and buy opium, so money sort of seeps its way into everything whether it be direct or indirect.

“Pictures of Life in Australia,” Household Words pg. 307 6/22/1850

 “I have looked at such assemblages in all parts of the colony, until my eyes have dimmed with national pride, to think that to England should belong the right to own them; the old fashioned Sunday scenes and manners of England, seen in her younger colonies, being thus revived.”

This specific article really helped bring the context of the times alive by bringing in a good snapshot of the point of view of the times. This little article about life in Australia through the eyes of a Britain native gives our audience today an idea of how these people saw the colonies. It shows us the true thought process. They believed they had the right to own these colonies as demonstrated through the quote. It also helps us to connect to our frame of mind today. Back then they thought the Australian’s would have been an uncivilized and isolated people, but in reality, they weren’t that different from the British. We have that same stereotypical generalization of other countries today, and I think it’s important to note that we can probably relate rather well to that inflated sense of national pride displayed in this article.

“Too Much Freedom on the Seas” All the Year Round pg. 198 6/25/1859

This article helped bring in a point of view that we wouldn’t often think of from these times. The world these people lived in was vastly expanding and pushing limits. People traveled. They were interested in the world beyond their country. This article helps us understand that there were dangers that came along with this curiosity. With travel came the potential to come across criminals and unsavory characters, these people often going unpunished due to tricky laws and limited technologies. This is definitely a point of view needed to understand every aspect of traveling in the Victorian world.

“Indian Railways”, All the Year Round, Volume X, pg. 564

This article helped illustrate one of the methods of travel and the interesting conditions the Victorian’s might have met outside of their own country while using those methods. This view almost makes us cringe in comparison to our rather comfortable means of travel today, but it does so in a good way. It’s harder for us to understand what exactly came along with traveling in those times, and it helps us realize just exactly how easy we have it in comparison to these unfortunate people riding in 120º degree train cars as we sit pretty in our air conditioned cars, planes, and buses.

“Opium,” Household Words Volume XVI pg. 18

This rather interesting look into a recreational and medicinal drug easily comes alive for us. This is mostly because it’s easily relatable to our own world. This article describes the controversy surrounding opium, and from my reading of the article it sounds a lot like the controversy that surrounds recreational and medicinal drugs in our world today. It talked a lot about China and how it related to England through opium. This article nicely pulled in the foreign aspect surrounding the drug which fits into the travel aspect of our group work.