Literatures in English: Victorian Primary Sources

Victorian Primary Sources

This page directs you to three main types of sources: 1) indexes searched through C19: the Nineteenth Century Index including Nineteenth Century Microfiche, 2) full-texts collections of periodicals, and 3) digital collections of cultural texts and artifacts.

In addition to the sources below, review the tabs, “Historical Periodicals” and “Digital Primary Texts: British and Colonial Literature” in this English Research Guide. See also the guide, “History of Great Britain and the British Empire” at http://libguides.rice.edu/britishempire.

Nineteenth Century Microfiche in C19

Containing over 20,000 documents, the Nineteenth Century Microfiche General Collection (NCM) is a valuable resource for Victorian culture and society. Microfiche are transparent cards with miniature photos of documents; one issue of a magazine, for example, might fit on a single card. They must be read with a microform machine. Remember these tips:

• Search the NCM collection from the C19: The Nineteenth Century Index database. C19 contains numerous indexes; if the Microfiche Project does not open by default, select it from the menu in the right column.
• The physical NCM is located in the library basement microfiche collection at CB415 .N56. To find your particular fiche within the collection, you need the “fiche number” from the NCM record.
• Every item in NCM also has a record in the library catalog, which contains both the NCM collection call number and the fiche number (under “Reproduction note”).
• Ask the staff at the Gov Info reference desk in the basement for help using the microform machines. If no staff is available at Gov Info, ask for help at the Circulation Desk on the first floor. Instructions are available in binders near the machines.

Other C19 Indexes

C19 contains several indexes of great value for Victorian research. To get full descriptions of each index, go to Information Resources>About C19 Index using the database task bar. For cultural research on the Victorian period, two particularly useful indexes are British Periodicals and the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. These indexes search serials (magazines, newspapers, journals). Remember these tips:

• The Rice Full Text button should work for articles in serials, when full text is available, and for books found in OneSearch.
• You can also access individual serial titles using the Journals A to Z search box on the library home page.
• You can fill out the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) form for articles not available at Rice.
• Many books listed in C19 will be available online or at Rice in print or microform; others will be available through ILL; others will only be available at the libraries that own them. To find books at other libraries for ILL, use the WorldCat database linked from the library homepage.

Full-Text Databases for Victorian Periodicals, etc.

We particularly recommend:

• Gale NewsVault lets you search across multiple important British newspapers from the Victorian period. Use the NewsVault advanced search tools or go into the individual newspaper databases within NewsVault (e.g. the Illustrated London News Archive and Punch) to search for particular types of articles or illustrations. Individual newspapers are listed on the NewsVault landing page and in the library Databases list.
• British Periodicals is a full-text database covering many of the journals indexed in C19, incorporating authorship information from the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900. Using this database gives you useful search options for Bentley's Miscellany, 
• 19th Century UK Periodicals "covers British life in the Victorian age and the events, lifestyles, values, and ideas that shaped the world during this milestone period (Gale)." Rice University owns access to: Series 1, New Readerships: Women's, Children's, Humor and Leisure/Sports; and Series 2, Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary and Colonial.
• Nineteenth Century Collections Online unites multiple, distinct archives into a single resource of over one hundred types of primary source documents (Gale).
• Oxford Scholarly Editions Online contains authoritative texts with scholarly notes for many works of Victorian fiction, poetry, drama and scientific and philosophical writing.
• Periodicals Archive Online contains historical full-text content of scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. 
• Literature Online (LION) contains html full text of many literary works from the Victorian period and others. To search by period, go to Browse: Browse by Literary Period and select Early Victorian, Late Victorian, or Victorian Period. Then search within the results. While useful, these texts sometimes contain OCR and other errors.
• Historic Literary Criticism gathers contemporary reactions by reviewers and other authors to the literature of the time. It contains reviews, essays, letters, etc. about and by numerous major Victorian authors.  
• Defining Gender (1540-1910) is a thematic primary-source database; its Essays (under “Quick Links” and “Explore”) may be helpful for finding documents by theme.

Victorian Culture