19th Century U.K. Periodicals
A Cross-Disciplinary Collection
Introduction
19th Century UK Periodicals was, from the start, designed as a truly interdisciplinary product, among the mostcross-disciplinary products Gale has ever engaged in; the board of scholars, the topics, the titles, were all
selected with the idea of being as representative as possible of all aspects of 19th Century history and culture.
The importance of these materials for undergraduate and graduate teaching and research cannot be understatedas this collection falls into a range of departments including journalism, literature, world history, design,merchandising, and textiles, women’s studies, nursing, economics, religion studies, and sociology/anthropology.
As Joanne Shattock, editor in chief, puts it:”19th Century UK Periodicals was undertaken in response to strong representations from scholarly
communities on both sides of the Atlantic that access to the enormous range of nineteenth-century
periodical literature would be an invaluable resource, unprecedented in its range and potential, and ofinterest to historians and students of nineteenth-century literature and culture, empire, feminism, thehistory of the book, the creative and performing arts, sport and leisure, science and medicine, theprofessions, in short, of all aspects of nineteenth-century life that the press encompassed.
When complete it will make available full runs of nearly 600 titles, some of which exist only in a single
copy, such is the fragile state of much nineteenth-century printed material. The availability, on thescholar’s desktop, of six million pages of nineteenth-century journalism, fully searchable, sourced fromthe British Library, the National Library of Scotland and other specialist libraries, offers a collection ofunparalleled range and diversity. Its potential as a teaching resource, as well as for research, isenormous.”

The Selection Process: Appeal to a wide range of scholars and disciplines
An Academic Advisory Board was established in 2004, comprised of eighteen scholars and university teachers,
each an acknowledged expert in his or her field within nineteenth-century studies. A master list of titles was drawn
up, based on various finding lists, including The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals (1968-89), The Waterloo
Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals, the third edition of the Cambridge Bibliography of English
Literature (1999), and the catalogues of specialist libraries and collections. More than twenty subject areas wereidentified as crucial, each represented by a subject specialist. These included literary periodicals, women’speriodicals, science, trade and industry, medicine, travel, geography and anthropology, humour, theatre,music, agriculture, children’s periodicals, sport, recreation and hobbies, politics and social science,social reform and philanthropy, religion, the fine arts, architecture, economics, finance, professional andacademic journals. Colonial and missionary publications, originating both in Britain and the empire, wereidentified as another major area. As with the newspapers of the period, periodicals were published not only in
London but in provincial centres, and in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Further consultations with specialists in
those areas were undertaken to ensure that non-metropolitan publications were properly represented in the finalselection.
Each member of the advisory board was charged with constructing a list of one hundred titles in his or her field,prioritizing the top thirty and then, much more difficult, the top ten. The main criteria for selection were the1-800-877-GALE
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influence of the periodical, in terms of content, circulation, editorial policy, contributors, and its
importance within the subject field. Within each subject area, the titles selected are representative of the kindsof publications produced in the hundred year span of the project. Women’s periodicals, for example, include
domestic magazines of the early and mid-century, together with the advocacy periodicals which accompanied theemergence of the women’s movement and the suffragette campaigns of the latter part of the century.
The advisory board then met to scrutinize the consolidated lists, to identify overlap, and to consider ways ofgrouping the titles. Many of the top thirty titles were common to several areas, not surprising in a period
when general publications, quarterly and monthly reviews, and some weeklies, predominated, covering awide spread of subjects. Political journalism, for example, was not the carefully demarcated area in thenineteenth century that it has since become. Many literary periodicals had political content. Religious
publications also reviewed a range of contemporary literature. Art was a topic discussed in generalpublications as well as in specialist ones. Scientific journalism included articles in the major quarterlies, monthly
and weekly reviews.
Five distinct groupings then emerged, from the more than twenty discrete subject areas which had formed thebasis of selection:
New Readerships: Women’s, Children’s, Humour and Leisure/Sport
Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary and ColonialCulture: Literature, Visual and Performing Arts
Working Life: Agriculture, the Professions, Trade and Industry, and Medicine
Knowledge: Academic, Field Sciences, Philanthropic, Political, Religious and Scientific Jour

How does the series support research across disciplines?
Culture: Literature, Visual and Performing Arts
Culture will add depth to the already available literary publications available in New Readerships and Empire.
From the serialized novels of Charles Dickens, to political satire, theatre and concert reviews and essays byleading writers of the day, this collection offers titles such as: Atalanta, The Cornhill Magazine, The Germ, The
Quarterly Review, The Builder, The Edinburgh Review, The Architect, The Bohemian, Fine Arts Quarterly Review,
The Strand Magazine, the Spectator, Dramatic world, Drury Lane, The British Bandsman, The Strad and The
Quarterly Musical Magazine. Not only will these titles be of interest to literature and humanities departments, they
will also be of great relevance and use to art and graphic departments as well as communications department.
Working Life: Agriculture, The Professions, Trade and Industry and Medicine
One key aspect of any 19th century study is the transformation of society through innovation and industrialization,
urbanization and the education and democratization of British society. This section tracks these changes throughjournals such as: Law Times, The Teacher, The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, The Engineer, The Grocer,
The Penny Mechanic, The Medical Examiner and the Nurses’ Journal. All of these will be of great value tostudents and scholars interested in the history of business and industrialization. They allow for a thorough review
of professions, how they evolved and how they impacted the economy of the time.
Knowledge: Academic, Field Sciences, Philanthropic, Political, Religious and Scientific Journals
This final series again adds depth and focus to areas already covered in previous installments: religion (a lot of1-800-877-GALE
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significant publications are included in New Readerships and Empire), science, labor, and education (that wasalso covered at length in previous series such as New Readerships). This series is emblematic of revolutions inworld views, social change, evolution, concern poverty and inequality and the growth of the labor movement andthe development of the modern university system. Titles include: British Astronomical Association Memoirs,Transactions of the Linnean Society, The Contemporary Review, The Poor Man’s Advocate, The NineteenthCentury, The Penny Magazine, The Catholic Magazine, The Church Journal and The Jewish Quarterly Review.

Conclusion
These periodicals represent a gold mine both for research and teaching; the opportunities for assignments fromthese materials, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, in English, history, gender studies, religion, historyof science and business history are endless. The strong visual component has rich potential significance forstudies of graphic arts, fashion, and the history of journalism.
These searchable publications allow students to get involved in original archival research using materials thatwere previously accessible only through travel to the UK to work in the British Library or associated institutions.
In short, this archive brings value to numerous departments in the humanities and social sciences and in theCollege of Communications insofar as it makes possible further inquiry into the history of media and newspapers.

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