You can do the same but we know more about bacteria now. Therefore, you should be able to do experiments the first bacteriologists could not do. While they were college graduates, your science courses have taught you things they did not know. Therefore, if today's student is interested, he can do much of what they did in 1880 and later. You have probably read about their work with human diseases, but students should not be working with human pathogens.
Pathogens are organisms which cause disease.
There is good news for the student. The non-pathogenic bacteria are more interesting and come in more shapes. It is easy to prepare foods for your organisms from milk, potato, liver, meat, starch, sugar, and other foods around the kitchen. If you have a pressure cooker, you can sterilize the foods and do great things. If you do not have a pressure cooker, you are in the same boat as the old-timers and can still do many things.