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91 Fascinating Posts About The Victorian Era That Show Just How Different It Was (New Pics)
AI, flying taxis, and smartphones in our pockets—our world has definitely come a long way. And one thing that really brings that change into perspective is looking at old photographs from the past. There’s something fascinating about seeing the people who lived before us, the clothes they wore, the homes they lived in, and the little details of everyday life that once seemed completely ordinary. Victorian photography, in particular, gives us a remarkable window into a world that feels both familiar and incredibly distant.
And that’s exactly what today’s collection is all about. We dove into Reddit’s r/RandomVictorianStuff to find some of the most fascinating glimpses of the Victorian era. From people and their homes to moments frozen in time, these posts offer a chance to see life as it was more than a century ago. So, keep scrolling, Pandas, and let’s take a little trip back in time.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Veiled Lady, C.1860. What Looks Like A Sheer Veil Is Actually Marble
RELATED:
#2
Portrait Of An Egyptian Woman By Abdullah Brothers, C 1870
#3
The Sleeping Beauty (Dornröschen), A Marble Statue By L. Sussmann-Hellborn, In The Alte Nationalgalerie, In Berlin, 1878
#4
In 1848, Joseph Gueusquin Built ‘Le Grand Robinson’, An Interconnected Treehouse Cabaret Based On The Swiss Family Robinson
Roger Nehring 1 month ago
It's amusing that they felt compelled to boast by posting the huge numbers on the very obvious levels.
#5
Sarah Biffin (1784-1850) Was A Famous Painter And Performer Who Was Born Without Arms Or Legs And Was Known For Her Highly Detailed Portraits Of English Royalty And Nobility
She was extremely talented in her craft and was awarded a pension by Queen Victoria!
Beak Hookage 1 month ago
AI sloperators need to see this whenever they start whining about how "it makes art accessible for disabled people!"
#6
Daguerreotype That Captured A Happy Accident
Shot the moment the baby burst in laughter, you can see blurr on their hands and a little on the face, mother tries to hold it together. Circa 1860.
#7
Painting Of Mrs. Albert Bartholomé (Née Propérie De Fleury) In "Dans La Serre", Done By Her Husband In 1881; The Dress She Wore Still Survives With No Alterations
#8
Yellow Ochre Moiré Silk Gown With Whalebone Bodice. 1881
#9
Dress By Madame Lasserre, Made Of Silk Satin, 1883
#10
Pauline Musters (1876 Or 1878-1895) Was A Famous Dutch Sideshow Performer Who Was Born With A Form Of Dwarfism
Her peak height was 24 inches (61 cm) tall. She weighed 3 lbs (1.3 kg) when she was 9 years old and 9 lbs (4 kg) at her last day. She was described as being a calm and gentle person.
#11
Dolls Kitchen Made In 1860. Comes With A Mouse!
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
"The mouse and mousetrap are in front of the stove, really tiny. The mouse looks like a brown dot on the floor, the mousetrap looks like a little white box."
#12
'A Drop Of London Water' Crammed Full Of Germs And Unpleasant Things. 1850
#13
'lady With Her Horse On A Snowy Day'. Félix Thiollier, 1899. Shows That It Wasn't Necessary To Stay Still For Photos
Zombie Andrew 1 month ago
well, lets specify, it wasn't necessary to stay still BY THAT TIME in photography...films had been developed to take in the info faster and faster, by this stage it had been 30+ years since the advent of photography
#14
Rat Coin Purse By Paul Frey For The Famous 'Lacloche Freres' French Jewelers C. 1900-1905
#15
Aida Overton Walker, 'The Queen Of The Cakewalk', 1903. When Her Actor Husband Became Sick, She Put On His Costume And Performed Both Their Roles
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
Another stunning actress of the era whose life was cut short. Amazing woman - her life is well worth a study.
#16
Glass Negative Of Future Queen Mary (Of Teck) In Her Wedding Dress, 6 Of July 1893
#17
Man With Small Pox, C 1900
Bored Jellyfish 1 month ago (edited)
This is exactly what I want anti-vaxxers to see- a horrible disease completely wiped out by vaccination! And I want them to talk to the older folks who could tell them stories of how parents became terrified when polio cases began making rounds in their neighborhoods. There’s no reason that any child should have to suffer through measles… yet here we are.
#18
Sketchbook Containing The Drawings That A Girl Named Emily M. Madden (B. 1858) Made Of Her Cat, Mouton, Between 1856 And 1859
She imagined him in fabulous situations and adventures, with other anthropomorphic animals, and after his passing, the rest of the pages were left blank
pandamonium 1 month ago
Just to be clear - she was born in 1858 and drew this between 1856 and 1859? Now THAT is impressive!:)
#19
Mrs Arthur Paget, Later Lady Paget, (D. 1919), Dressed As Cleopatra For The Devonshire House Ball In Honor Of Queen Victoria Reign, 2 Of July 1897
#20
René Lalique, Fan Of Mother-Of-Pearl, Gold, And Silk, French C. 1900
#21
Stage Actor Richard Mansfield Starring As The Dual Roles Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde In The 1887 Stage Adaptation
#22
A Little Boy And His Tiny Friend By Léonard Hubert Zeyen (Liège, Belgium)
#23
Maud Wagner, America's First Female Tattoo Artist
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
🎶 Lydia oh Lydia say have you met Lydia, Oh Lydia the queen of tattoos 🎶
#24
Two Men, About 1880
Carol Culhane 1 month ago
Looks gay, right? Not necessarily the case. Mens' friendships at this time included physical affection, hand holding and devotion. All lost because of homophobia. This is exhibit A in the masculinity crisis.
#25
Photo Found In Shipwreck, Sold For $73,000
This daguerreotype of was found in the wreck of a ship that sank in 1857. It was sold for $73,200 in an auction of items recovered from the S.S. Central America.
The vessel was carrying tons of Gold Rush treasure from San Francisco and the northern California area when it sank 7,200 feet deep in the Atlantic.
The scientific mission recovery team nicknamed the unidentified woman “Mona Lisa of the Deep” after retrieving the photo in 2014 from the seabed where it was discovered in a scattered pile of the ship’s coal. No records have been found so far of who the person may be.
#26
Cicada Brooch By René Lalique C1900
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
Beautiful, but I am still traumatised from the locust invasion of Nashville, Tennessee in 1985. They were EVERYWHERE.
#27
Orange Print Dinner Dress, 1890s, Showing The Influence Of Japanese Art
#28
Helen Keller Posing With Her Dear Dog, From Glass Negative, Circa 1902
Elle Roque 1 month ago
H H Rogers, a robber baron, paid for her college education and she dedicated her first book to him.
#29
Rocchetta Mattei In Italy, Building Began In 1850
#30
Conjoined Twins Millie And Christine, Known As 'The Two Headed Nightingale'
#31
An Anglo-Indian Carved Mahogany Secretary Bookcase, Mid-19th Century
#32
Before And After Photo Retouching
#33
Beautiful Estate Sale Books
Got these for $6. I could have picked up so many more but I only have so much room and I only speak English. Most of the deceased's old books were in French and German.
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
I have several like this in French from the mid 1800s. Any time I run across a book by the Comtesse de Ségur I grab it.
#34
Ballgown, American Or European, 1856-59
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
Can you imagine having to spend an entire evening stuffed into this thing? I'd be mortally afraid I would drop something on it.
#35
Lily Elsie And Adrienne Augarde
For clarity, this is a promotional photo for a play they did together, "the new Aladdin," in which Elsie played a male character. She also played female characters, and seems to have worn conventionally feminine attire offstage in her everyday life. There is no currently available evidence that either actress was queer, and they don't seem to have been a couple.
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
Lily Elsie was one of the most beautiful Victorian actresses. She was a real stunner.
#36
'Homeless' By Thomas Kennington, 1890. Kennington Was A Social Activist Who Decided To Highlight The Plight Of The Poor
#37
Cabinet Card Of 3 Ladies With Their Bikes, 1890s, Photo By Finnish Photographer, Jakob Ljungqvist
Michael Largey 1 month ago (edited)
And after their bicycle race starts, who will be first across the Finnish line?
#38
Head Of The Statue Of Liberty On Display In A Paris Park, 1883
#39
Hand-Tinted Daguerreotype Having A Note Inside The Case, Identifying The Sitter As "Indian Chief, Upper Canada, 1850-1851"
#40
Myth: Photo Retouching Is New And Women Used To Have Tiny Waists
This is a really detailed with links to Victorian books with advice on photo retouching.
The image shows waist edits on an image from about 1880. You can see the faded dark lines of her original image before it was retouched. The lady is May Selden Kennedy, the cousin of Harriet Lane.
#41
Two Children In Spitalfields, One Of The Worst Slums In London, 1903
#42
Devonshire Parure (Comb), By C. F. Hancock, 1856
#43
The Hermann Weinhardt House In Chicago, Illinois Is A Victorian And “Bavarian Gingerbread” Home Designed By Architect William Ohlhaber In 1888
#44
A Courting Couple Of The 1860s
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
I know this is meant to be romantic, but he appears to be staring straight at her cleavage.
#45
Crisp Daguerreotype Of A Girl In A Relative Simple Dress, By The Estudio Of Southworth & Hawes, Circa 1850. From George Eastman Collection
#46
Evelyn Nesbit By Otto Sarony Studio, A Bud, 1901
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
The infamous Evelyn Nesbit, world's first supermodel, involved in a m****r in "The Trial of the Century" in New York. "Nesbit entered Broadway theatre in 1901, initially as a chorus line dancer before becoming a featured star. A variety of wealthy men vied for her company, including Stanford White. In 1905, Nesbit married Harry Kendall Thaw, a multi-millionaire with a history of mental instability and a*****e behavior. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and k****d White in the middle of a highly attended musical performance at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden." <-- Wiki Diki
#48
'Popping The Question' - Sketches Of Marriage Proposals - The Illustrated Sporting And Dramatic News, London, 1882
Beak Hookage 1 month ago
I wasn't around at the time but I've been told my parents decided to get engaged the traditional Australian way. "Reckon we should get married?" "Yeah okay."
#49
Dinner Dress, Design House Maison Vignon, French, 1875–78
#50
Photograph By Gertrude Käsebier, The Dance, Platinum Print, C. 1905
Nicole Weymann 1 month ago
OT, but I love the photographer's name: it translastes to "Cheesebeer" 😄
#51
Ball Dress, American Or French, About 1858
#52
Daguerreotype Of A Woman In Flowered Bonnet, 1850s
#53
Rachel Hoge In, Probably The Biggest Puffiest Sleeves That I Have Seen, Circa 1890s. Cm Bell Studio
#54
Vegetable Oddities, Strand Magazine April 1893
#55
Queen Victoria And Prince Albert. No Crown, Jewels, Or Fancy Clothes
#56
"Fille Arabe Á Nazareth - 1889" By Photographer Tancrède Dumas Also Known As “A Christian Girl Of Nazareth”, Albumen 13, Found In Bièvres, Marc De Clercq Collection
#57
The Pink Lady Is A Renowned 1889 Victorian Mansion In Eureka, California, Located At 202 M Street
Built by lumber baron William Carson for his son, it is a quintessential example of Queen Anne and Eastlake architecture. The home, known for its distinctive pink color and stained-glass windows.
#58
A Room Papered With Stamps, 1892
This is the study of Charles Whitfield King, known as the "Stamp King", who built this house in Ipswich in 1887 and went on to run a worldwide stamp-dealing business. According to the caption, the mosaic was made up of 44,068 unused foreign stamps with a total value of £699 16s 9d. The house still exists but sadly only the central section of the design now remains.
#59
Optician's Sign, Sweden, Late 1800's Or Early 1900's
#60
Tom Wiggins (1849-1908) Was A Famous American Pianist, Composer, And Performer Who Was Born Blind And Had Autism
His joy in life was playing the piano with which he became extremely skilled. He was also a very talented composer. Sadly, he was exploited for profit during his life.
#62
Trader Andrew Myrick, Passed Away In 1862. When Dakota Leaders Asked For His Help To Feed Starving People, He Declined. He Allegedly Said "Let Them Eat Grass". During The Dakota War, He Was Found Not Alive With Grass Stuffed In His Mouth
#63
The Cat's Meat Man. A Poem From 1883
#65
Mechanical Swimming Doll,1905
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
I would just sink to the bottom and drown if I saw something this terrifying swimming toward me.
#66
I Found This Figurine Head At The Victorian Landfill Site Here In England, It Is The Weirdest Head I've Found In Hundreds, It's Tom Sayer
Alex Buchanan 1 month ago (edited)
And what you say about his company, Is what you say about society...
#67
End Of Term At Ardingly College, England. The Boys Are Sitting On A Pile Of Luggage
#69
Lewis W. Hine, ‘Ellis Island, Italian Madonna.’ Silver Contact Print, 1905
#70
Detroit, 1882 And 2011
David Andrews 1 month ago (edited)
As sad as it is too see what was lost, at least in this case its a bit more positive now. The 4 remaining houses in that block were all restored a few years ago, and new apartments built to fill the gaps
#71
Young Boy's Suit, English, 1870 (Victoria And Albert Museum, London)
#73
My Favorite Entries From My 2nd Great-Grandmother's Autograph Book 1880-1883
#74
A Formal Portrait Of Two Young Black Women Standing In Front Of A Faux Backdrop Featuring Niagara Falls, 1890s
#75
Maud Wagner (America's First Female Tattoo Artist) And Husband Gus (America's Most Tattooed Man) With Clients
#76
Woman's Headdress, French, Worn In America, Silk Net, Silk Mesh, Silk Plain Weave Tape, Wire, Embroidered Artificial Pearls, Mid-19th Century
#77
Alice Davis, CA. 1895
#78
1899 Tornado Photo By C. Bartholomew
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
Amazing that they caught it. I would have been trying to figure out what direction it was heading and run the other way or looked for a cellar.
#79
Students At The University Of California, Berkeley, 1900
#80
Rasmine Frederikke Rasmussen Nielsen (05/03/1870) Smiles With Her Little Baby Boy Jørgen Frederik Hansen Bang (22/03/1894), Denmark, July Of 1894. Glass Negative
#81
Several Examples Of ‘Vinegar Valentines’ That Were Popular During The Victorian Era
They could range from comical to downright insulting and were meant to have the opposite effect of traditional Valentine’s Day cards.
#82
Humorous Image Of A Dentist Pulling A Tooth Out, 1850s. Would You Have Framed This?
#83
Lady’s Green High-Button Boots, 1890s
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
I can't imagine getting in and out of these every day. I have my grandmother's button hook somewhere - a LOT of work.
#84
Tiffany & Co. Chocolate Pot, Designed By Charles Osborne, 1879
#85
Daguerreotype Of Early Ether Anesthetic Operation Conducted At Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 1847
#86
Tintype Portrait Of A Boy Named George White Holding A Pewter Nursing Bottle, He Wears A White Dotted Dress And Sits In A Miniature "Boston Rocker", 1840-1845
#87
A Cabinet Card Photograph Of A Young Black Woman, Early 1890s
#88
Three Bicycle Riders, Us, C 1899
Janissary35680 1 month ago
🎵🎶Three bicycle riders are us / Dodging the taxi and the bus / It all sounds terribly perilous / Three bicycle riders are us!🎶🎵
#89
Hand Coloured Photograph Of A Woman, Agnes-Ann Pascoe Holding A Baby Who Is Her Son, Mydhope Pascoe, 1871
#91
Prince Albert Victor, Eldest Son Of Edward VIII
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Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 1 month ago
These were fabulous! This is one of the better articles I've seen in a while. More like this, please!
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These were fabulous! This is one of the better articles I've seen in a while. More like this, please!
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