victorian era
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Cosmetic Surgery in the Victorian Era Collection #1
While cosmetic surgery was in its infancy during the Victorian era, back alley cosmetic surgery was about to wheeze its dying breath. Fortunately we have extensive documentation of this little known practice in our archives. This particular collection requires minor explanation. Photograph #1 is of Ms Mavis Barker of York who performed operations on a…
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Easter Celebrations at the Victorian Underground
At the Victorian Underground Project, we try to provide as much background information on our archival documents as we can. However, today we have requested an Easter holiday. If you look closely you will be able to see that we haven’t cleaned up the first three photographs purely because we believe they look better in…
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Psychedelic Art in Victorian England Collection #1
Many people still believe that psychedelia grew out of various counterculture movements of the 1960s. Today we hope to correct this misconception once and for all. We know that psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and DMT have been used for thousands of years all over the world. Here in England, magic mushrooms grow in the…
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The Gentlemen’s Moth Appreciation Society of England Collection #1
The Gentlemen’s Moth Appreciation Society of England was founded in 1768. It was the governing body of all 57 registered moth societies across the country until its abrupt disbanding in 1900. This society converged around a shared, often lifelong love of the moth. While many of us are terrified by the mere mention of this…
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A Fortune Teller and Her Apprentice
These exquisite images depict an often ignored and misunderstood community of travellers who occassionally passed through Victorian England during the earlier part of the 19th century. Photograph #1 is of Ravenna Genovese, an Italian fortune teller who was, according to local folklore, 150 years old. More impressive than this is that she never once charged…
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