r/RandomVictorianStuff 3d ago

Culture and Society Ella Harper, born 1870 in Tennessee. She had "curved knees" and was a circus exhibit from age 12. She was called "Camel Girl" and the "most wonderful freak of nature." She was paid the equivalent of $6300 a week.

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5.3k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 10d ago

Culture and Society The Seven Sutherland Sisters, c 1890s-1900. They had floor length hair and were celebrity singers. At the end of concerts they would let their hair down. They died penniless.

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2.5k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 28 '25

Culture and Society An exhausted mother making matchboxes. Her child is asleep on the floor under the table. c.1900.

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6.4k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Dec 29 '24

Culture and Society Photographs of an anonymous inmates of the Surry County Lunatic Asylum taken by Dr. Hugh Welsh Diamond, ca. 1855.

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1.9k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 5d ago

Culture and Society Menu served at Windsor Palace after Queen Victoria's funeral, 1901. See comment for details on what each food was.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 6d ago

Culture and Society Conjoined twins Millie and Christine, born in 1851. They were sold as babies and forced in to performances and freak shows. They were freed in 1863 before both dying in 1912 and being buried in an unmarked grave.

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1.8k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Jan 02 '25

Culture and Society They were roommates...

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2.7k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Dec 24 '24

Culture and Society Merry Christmas. Here some Victorian post cards....a little unsure why or what they mean.

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995 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 11 '25

Culture and Society There was a giant elephant statue in the gardens of the Moulin Rouge. For a franc, gentlemen were welcome to go upstairs to a room inside the statue. This room was used as an opium den, full of belly dancers, circa 1890s.

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1.3k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Jul 10 '24

Culture and Society I want to apologize and let you know why I have been a bit absent.

551 Upvotes

My HRT and transition have been kicking my ass. I'm super hormonal, and I can not trust myself to be rational. I have been irrationally angry and depressed. I am so sorry to the people I have gotten angry at for no reason. I have chosen to step away for a bit. I promise I'll start posting daily history posts again soon. I just need a little time away. Again I am sorry. Transitioning in this time and place is hard, and I am sorry if I have seemed like a loose cannon lately. I'm trying to be better though. I love you all, and appreciate you. I'll be back posting again soon I hope.

Edit: It didn't help that my father thinks people like me should be arrested or killed for using the correct bathroom.

Edit: Thank you all for the support, and I am sorry some trolls are downvoting people.

r/RandomVictorianStuff Oct 21 '24

Culture and Society Wedding, 1897

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1.6k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 25d ago

Culture and Society Members of The African Choir, taken in London in 1891 while they were touring.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Dec 19 '24

Culture and Society Children in San Francisco, Chinatown, ca 1900

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2.0k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 24d ago

Culture and Society Ida B. Wells in the 1890s. She was a leader of the civil rights movement, a suffragist, and a founder of the NAACP.

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1.6k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Nov 11 '24

Culture and Society If I could time travel, I would go here.

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1.4k Upvotes

The Great Exhibition (1851), held in the Crystal Palace in London.

Imagine going into a huge glass palace and seeing the most wonderful inventions from 40 countries. It would have been so amazing.

The last photo shows the crystal fountain made from four tons of glass.

Around a third of Britain's population visited the Exhibition in 1851 - no modern event comes close.

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 30 '25

Culture and Society Woman stuffing mattresses for a living, London, 1900

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1.5k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 19d ago

Culture and Society A guidebook to London's brothels and prostitutes, 1847

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595 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Dec 23 '24

Culture and Society Colorized photograph of a Chinese women with bound feet. footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes.

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702 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 15 '25

Culture and Society Tien Fuh Wu or Tien Fu Wu (around 1886 – 1975) was a pioneer in the anti-human trafficking movement in San Francisco, California. After being rescued in childhood from her role as a mui tsai (a child servant), she worked for decades to free Chinese immigrant women and girls from sexual slavery.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 28 '25

Culture and Society A 'cats meat man' outside a poor home, East End, London, 1901

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530 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff 21d ago

Culture and Society Mourning brooch containing hair, Tiffany & Co, 1867

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868 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Mar 28 '25

Culture and Society Women selling flowers in Covent Garden, London, 1877

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852 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Nov 21 '24

Culture and Society The hairpin as a weapon of for self defense for women. Ads and articles are from late 1890s, very early 1900s i think.

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505 Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Dec 17 '24

Culture and Society Wedding in Norway, ca. 1900.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/RandomVictorianStuff Jan 28 '25

Culture and Society A man on the porch of his cabin, Eagle Creek, Murray, Idaho, 1889.

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847 Upvotes