9The Woman ReaderTask 1: RED

Search for records of women reading newspapers and/or periodicals.

• What kind of reading experiences are recorded in the database?

• Which papers did women read?

• How, according to the database, did women encounter newspapers?

• Examine all of the search options – how do they let you modify/focus your search?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the database for researching the experiences of newspaper readers?

Freedom?9The Woman Reader

TASK: Log onto the British Periodicals database and locate articles relating to women and reading.

1. Before you begin, brainstorm a list of possible keywords and consider how you will focus your search.

2. What did 19thC essayists have to say about the woman reader?1. How did they rate her choice of reading?2. What impact did they think reading would have on women?3. Can you find anything specifically about newspapers/magazines?

Task 2: British Periodicals

9The Woman ReaderTask 3: Women’s Magazines

1. What kind of material did your magazine carry?

2. What kind of women do you think it was aimed at?

3. Does your paper reinforce ‘domestic ideology’ or challenge it?

1. Ladies Monthly Museum2. Le Belle Assemblie3. The Ladies’ Cabinet4. Ladies’ Fashionable Repository5. Ladies’ Treasury6. Ladies Monthly Magazine7. Le Follet8. British Mothers’ Magazine9. Lady’s Newspaper10. Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine11. Englishwoman’s Review12. Myra’s Journal of Dress and Fashion13. The Woman’s Penny Paper14. Hearth and Home

• Wellesley Index

• Curran Index

• Punch (1841-2002)

11The Professional JournalistAnonymityTASK 1: Track down the author of a piece from Punch!

1. Log into 19th Century UK Periodicals and find an issue of Punch published between 1844 and 1847.

2. Choose an image/article that you find interesting.

3. Go to the Punch Contributor Ledgers website (via Blackboard) and try to locate the author of your article.

4. Who wrote it? What other things did they contribute? Look them up in the DNCJ and find out more about their life & career.

5. What can you learn about the way in which Punch was put together?

11The Professional JournalistHow to become a journalistTASK 2: Figure out how to become a Victorian journalist!

1. Visit the ‘TASK 2’ folder on blackboard and open up some of the guides listed inside.

2. What career paths were open to journalists? Identify all of the different jobs that were necessarily in order to put a newspaper together.

3. What skills & qualifications were required in order to enter the profession?

4. How did prospective journalists get a start in the profession?

5. Was journalism open to women as well as men?

6. Were British and American newspapers organised differently?

TASK 4: Census Records

1. Go to the ‘TASK 4’ folder on backboard and download the collection of 1911 census records.

2. What kind of people worked as journalists? (Age, gender, marital status, etc)

3. Are any more specific about their job?

4. What can you determine about the social class of these journalists?

5. What about their nationality?

6. What were their living conditions?

7. What other things can we learn about the people who worked as journalists?

Representative IdealCommercial

George Newnes

Tit-BitsFounded 1881700,000 copiesSymbol of new regime

Analyse the content of Tit-Bits:

1. Pick an individual issue in your bound volume.2. What kind of articles did it contain?3. How, and where, were these articles obtained?4. How does the style/design of Tit-Bits compare to other papers you’ve looked

at?5. Who do you think read Tit-Bits?6. What techniques did Newnes use to attract and retain readers?