The Vast Victorian: Tracts, Serving and Juggling

I am sorry to be so slow to get some new information up. While you are waiting for a variety of other dramaturgical tidbits I wanted to pass on some interesting reading material that will be of use to a number of you.

The Victorian Web (a project out of Brown University) has a wide variety of interesting materials on how, religion, science and social roles were viewed during the era. The section on tracts and the sorts of evangelical groups that would use tracts and would agitate for literacy (across classes) as a means to exposing children to religion will be of particular interest to Miss Clack. (Above: American tracts of the same era targeting children.)

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management is a great book about the variety of things a lady would need to know to run a household. The entire book is online and the sections on the mistress of the house, servants, the doctor and legal memoranda will be of interest for this production not only for those playing servants, doctors and the lawyer but just to get a sense of the time period. Victorian recipes for the common hog are just a bonus.

Victorian writer, William Hazlitt, wrote many things, but his article, The Indian Jugglers, originally published in Table Talk in 1828 may be of interest. It quickly ceases to be about juggling, but the initial description of the jugglers may be of use to those thinking about how the Indian jugglers would be perceived by Victorians.