Nineteenth Century Magazine

The flagship publication of the Victorian Society in America is the respected Nineteenth Century Magazine, published in the Spring and Fall as a benefit to members and distributed to more than 200 subscribing libraries. The magazine is devoted to the cultural and social history of the United States during the Victorian era, with regular features on architecture, fine arts, decorative arts, interior design, life-style, clothing, photography, and material culture.

Current Issue

Volume 43 • Number 2
 Fall 2023  SPECIAL ISSUE: AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAKERS

  • Gilded Age Newport in Color – Theresa Guzman-Stokes and Keith Stokes
  • William A Hazel: America’s First Known Black Stained-Glass Artist -Julie L. Sloan
  • Chromolithography: Art for the People – Christopher W. Lane
  • Rustic Structures in the Landscape: San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park -Christopher Pollock

Recent Issues

Volume 43 • Number 1
Spring 2023
  • A Queen of Bohemia is Born: New York Writer, Reformer, and Bon Vivant Zoe Anderson Norris – Eve M. Kahn
  • Caspar Wendlinger: A Merchant Tailor and the Military in Richmond, Virgnia – Kristen Stewart
  • “Diverse and Unorthodox Interests”: Landscape Gardener Sidney J. Hare – Carol Grove
  • The Future of the Past: Can We Save History Without the House? – Susan J. Montgomery
Volume 42 • Number 2
Fall 2022
  • Frank Furness’s Architecture of Motion: Depots, Ferryboats and Ocean Liners – Michael J. Lewis
  • The Sixth Avenue Railroad: The Beginning of the Line for the Streetcar – Keith E. Letsche
  • New York City Hall and John McComb, Jr.: A Reconsideration of His Role as Architect – Valerie Ann Leeds
Volume 42 • Number 1
Spring 2022
  • Through the Stereoscope: Gustavus Pach and Early Images of Ocean Grove, New Jersey – Jenny H. Shaffer
  • Two Octagons: Experiments in Campus Architecture – David Hosford
  • Lizzie Spider, John J. Boyle and the Stone Age in America – Michael J. Lewis
  • “To Gratify the Eye with Color:” Newport Leaded Glass and the Aesthetic Movement – Lea C. Stephenson
Volume 41 • Number 2
Fall 2021
  • At Home with H.H. Richardson: A Visit to the Architects House and Studio – William Tyre
  • Railroad Ties: Edward Lamson Henry, the 9:45 a.m. Accommodation in Context and the Commission by John Taylor Johnston – Valerie Ann Leeds
  • Victorian Pastimes: Puzzles and Games – Renee Evans and Jaclyn Spainhour Tubbs
Volume 41 • Number 1
Spring 2021
  • Thomas Day: Free African American, Woodworker, and Design Revolutionary – Madison Sommers
  • A Night’s Rest? Tavern Life in the Nineteenth Century – Gerald Baum
  • George W. Hewitt: The Architect as Polymath – Michael J. Lewis
Volume 40 • Number 2
Fall 2020
  • Elizabeth Robins Pennell’s Cookery Book: A Symphony in the Gender Politics of Nineteenth-Century Dining – Leela Outcalt

  • Mr. & Mrs. John J. Glessner Request The Pleasure…: Dining With the Glessners in Gilded Age Chicago – William Tyre

  • Eighteen Hours with Mattie Williamson: Recreating a Day in the Life of the Glessners’ Cook – Justin Miller

  • Dining Out in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Chicago: The Birth of Modern American Public Dining – Bruce Kraig

Volume 40 • Number 1
Spring 2020
  • Memory, Materiality, and Meaning: Hartford’s Church of The Good Shepherd – David W. Granston III

  • Mrs. Peacock Returns To Society: A Gilded Age Portrait by Raimundo De Madrazo – Dawn R. Brean

  • Mismanagement, Ineptitude, Chicanery–And Success: The Saga Of The Buffalo Civil War Monument, 1878-1891 – Daniel D. Reiff

  • The Wyoming Massacre: On Stone and in Memory – Michael J. Lewis

Volume 39 • Number 2
Fall 2019
  • How Not to Run a Competition: The Circuitous Route to Gutzon Borglum’s Altgeld Memorial – Paul Kruty
  • Culture Capitalism: Emma Stebbin’s Allegories from the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican – Melissa L. Gustin
  • Forever in Mourning: Union and Confederate Monuments, 1860-1920 – Ernest Everett Blevins
  • Sculptor Elisabet Ney: The Albert Sidney Johnston Memorial – Jacquelyn Delin McDonald
  • The New Study Gallery at Chesterwood – Donna Hassler and Dana Pilson
  • Paul Wayland Bartlett’s Lafayette on Horseback – Laura A. Macaluso
Volume 39 • Number 1
Spring 2019
  • Double Trouble: Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Snake Charmer of Tangier, Africa – Roberta A. Mayer
  • Cleanliness, Economy, Fashion & Protection: American Women and the Duster Coats, 1860-1890 – Rebecca Jumper Matheson
  • Gilding an Antebellum Baltimore Townhouse: The Lost Mansion of John Work Garrett and Mary Elizabeth Garrett – Lance Humphries & Roberta A. Mayer
  • “Distinctively Californian”: John Mallon and the Artistic Legacy of the Pacific Art Glass Works – Jim Wolf
  • Hunting Up Images: John Burgum and the Artistry of Carriage Painting – Merri McIntyre Ferrell
  • No Sinking Violet – Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 38 • Number 2
Fall 2018
  • Decorating the Dead: Coffin Hardware & the Farewell Cemetery – Melissa Cole and Laura Suchan
  • Funny Epitaphs: A Century-Old Look at Some Poignant and Amusing Carvings – Elbridge H. Thompson and Warren Ashworth
  • Death Masks: Intimate Memorial Tributes – Eve M. Kahn
  • Remembering the Life in Death: The Role of Portraiture and Photography in the Nineteenth Century – Marie Carter
  • Bruce Price and the “Purely Greek” Tombstone – Michael J. Lewis
  • Beating the Bodysnatchers – Allison C. Meier
  • A Tale of Two Graves – Bridget M. Marshall
  • Making a Museum: Eustis House – Karla Rosenstein
  • Milestones: Dr. Snow and the Blue Death – Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 38 • Number 1
Spring 2018
  • The Shrewsbury-Windle House: A Case Study For Mid-Nineteenth Century Gaslight Installation – Keith E. Letsche And J. Craig Maue
  • The Allegorical Program Of Louis Sullivan’S Transportation Building: At The World’S Columbian Exposition Of 1893 – Jonathan Hall
  • Illuminating Etiquette: Interior Illumination At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century – Amber L. Wingerson
  • Thomas Sully And The Studious Subject – Michael J. Lewis
Volume 37, Number 2
Fall 2017
  • At A Crossroads: Architect Charles Rutan And His Photo Album – Maureen Meister
  • The Marquand Music Room: Research And Conservation – Alexis Goodin And Kathleen M. Morris
  • A Musicale For The Maestro: Antonín Dvorak, Jeannette Thurber And The National Conservatory Of Music Of America – Majda Kallab Whitaker
  • Coaching Through The Gilded Age – Merri Ferrell
Volume 37, Number 1
Spring 2017
  • Sara Chapman Bull’s Teakwood Rooms – Roberta A. Mayer and Susan Candrick
  • Frank Furness: Perpetual Motion and “The Captain’s Trousers” – Michael J. Lewis
  • Hart’s Parish Churches – John H/ Carnahan and James F. O’Gorman
  • William Noland:  The Making of a Virginia Architect – Christopher V. Novelli
  • The Regilding of St. Gaudens’ Diana
  • A Penny for Your Thoughts – Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 36, Number 2
Fall 2016
  • Maymont: A Virginia Study in Gilded Age Eclecticism  – Dale Wheary
    Politics and Paintings – Barbara J. Mitnick
  • Hummingbirds, Emperors, and Railway Barons – Cynthia Haverson Veloric
  • The Struggle for Professionalism – Robin H. Prater
  • Greene and Greene’s Robert Pitcairn, Jr. House, Pasadena – Anne E. Mallek
  • Young Busler Goes to the Fair – Jeanne Solensky
  • The 40 Elephants Rampage London – Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 36, Number 1
Spring 2016
  • All in the Family – Majda Kallab Whitaker
  • Planning the Suburban House – Paul Kruty
  • From Maine to oregon – James O’Gorman
  • Restoration of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home – Rik Booraem
  • In Search of the Unspoken Language of Rooms – Pauline Metcalf
  • Revitalizing Staten Island’s Landmark Snug Harbor – James Lim and Graham Hebel
  • What the…Dickens? Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 35, Number 2
Fall 2015
  • From Hammer to Drafting Pen: Edward Shaw of Boston – James F. O’Gorman

  • A New Look at Victorian Furniture: Triumph of the Picturesque – Oscar P. Fitzgerald

  • Marie Spartali Stillman: A Pre-Raphaelite in America – Margaretta S. Frederick

  • Restoration of the Gardens at Naumkeag – Jane Roy Brown

  • Sleuthing… Frank Furness Furniture – David L. Barquist

  • Collecting… “Blooks” – Mindell Dubansky

  • Milestones: Munshi Mania – Anne-Taylor Cahill

Volume 35, Number 1
Spring 2015
  • Philadelphia’s Forgotten Plein-Air Portraitist – Gilllian Greenhill Hannum

  • Art Meets Science – Paul Doros

  • William Morris Changes Abodes – John Waters

  • Learning from Europe – Tania June Sammons

  • Preservation Diary: Iviswold Castle – Warren Ashworth, Annabelle Radcliffe-Trenner

  • Furthermore… Gervase Wheeler Revisited – Renee E. Tribert, James F. O’Gorman

  • The Bibliophilist: Anne-Taylor Cahill, David B. Dearinger, Deborah Dependahl Waters, Karen Zukowski

  • Milestones: The Bonfire Ballerina – Anne-Taylor Cahill

Volume 34, Number 2
Fall 2014
40th London Summer School All-British Issue
  • Owen Jones and the Interior Decoration of the London Crystal Palaces – Carol Flores
  • “Dear Godwino…” – Jennifer Adams
  • Clotilde Brewster – Laura Fitzmaurice
  • The Manor Reborn – Jennifer Carlquist
  • A History of the VSA London Summer School – Gavin Stamp
  • The Arts and Crafts Movement in England – Alan Crawford
  • Victorian Transfer-printed Ceramics – Ian Cox
  • The Bibliophilist: Jeannine Falina, Joyce Hill Stoner, Gina Santucci
  • Milestones: He Stole the Queen’s Knickers – Anne-Taylor Cahill
Volume 34, Number 1
Spring 2014
  • Almost Lost – Jane Karotkin

  • American Artists in London at the International Exhibition of 1862 – Barbara Finney

  • Curiosities and Wonders – Cynthia Haveson-Veloric

  • Architecture and the Decorative Arts in Henry James’s The Spoils of Poynton – Marie Frank

  • Preservation Diary: Ragdale and Chicago as the Axis Mundi of Modern Architecture – Warren Ashworth

  • Art-Historical Sleuthing – James F. O’Gorman

  • The Bibliophilist: Karen Zukowski, Michael J. Lewis, Jeannine Falino

  • Inside the Victorian House: Socrates at Home – Anne-Taylor Cahill

Volume 33, Number 2
Fall 2013
  • Winslow Homer’s Maine Studio – James F. O’Gorman

  • C.A. Neff – Steven M. Purdy

  • Capturing an Era Under Glass- John Whitenight

  • Preservation Diary: Lest We Forget…The Battles to Preserve New York City’s Historic Rail Stations – Gibson Craig

  • The Bibliophilist: Barbara J. Mitnick, Erin E. Eisenbarth, Sally Buchanan Kinsey

  • Victorian Travel Tales: Sip and Savour the Victorian Way – Sally Buchanan Kinsey

Volume 33, Number 1
Spring 2013
  • Little Treasure Chanber of Perfect Works – Sirpa Selenius

  • English-American Identity and the Gothic Revival – Anna Nau

  • Agecroft Hall – Chris Novelli

  • William Bailey Lang’s Highland Cottages – James F. O’Gorman

  • Local Focus: Roswell Gleason, Massachusetts Metalsmith – Anthony Sammarco

  • Preservation Diary: The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse – Warren Ashworth

  • The Bibliophilist: Tara Leigh Tappert, Brian Coleman, Joyce Mendelsohn

  • New & Noteworthy – Anne-Taylor Cahill

  • Victorian Travel Tales: Murder on Maiden Lane – Sally Buchanan Kinsey

Volume 32, Number 1
Spring 2012
  • An Aesthete’s Lair: The F. Holland Day House – Libby Bischof and James F. O’Gorman
  • “Shocking Scenes of Dissipation” Artists Studios and Cultural Backlash – Karen Zukowski
  • William Pretyman, Designer – John Waters
  • Aspiration and Obsession: Henry Clay Frick and the W. H. Vanderbilt House and Collection – Melanie Linn Gutowski
  • Preservation Diary: Cleveland’s Model Preservation Assistance Program – Warren Ashworth
  • The Bibliophilist: Brian Coleman, Jean Arrington, Roberta Mayer
  • Victorian Innovation: American Patent Models – Charles Robertson
  • Milestones: Ruskin and the Stones of Lucca – Sally Buchanan Kinsey
  • Local Focus: Symbols of Slumber – Children’s Funerary Sculpture in Norfolk’s Elmwood Cemetery – Jaclyn Spainhour
Volume 31, Number 2
Fall 2011
  • Queen Victoria as Artist, Art Collector, and Patron – Barbara Finney
  • The 1883 Texas State Capitol – Ali James
  • John Rogers, Portraitist – Kimberly Orcutt
  • Colonial Revival in the Suburbs: The Path to Irvingcroft – Susan Nowicki
  • Collecting: Skirt Lifters – Barbara Kotzin
  • The Bibliophilist: David Dearinger, James F. O’Gorman, Karen Zukowski
  • Caring For: 19th-Century Furniture – John Dills
  • Milestones: Words and Music-And War – Sally Buchanan Kinsey
Volume 31, Number 1
Spring 2011
  • The Egyptian Revival Reception Room at Cedar Hill – Marissa Hershon
  • The Electrified Goddess: Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Stanford White and Diana at Madison Square Garden – Elizabeth Lee
  • The Tales of Tom Thumtack – James F. O’Gorman
  • Victorian Revival in Wisconsin: Neo-Rococo Surrealism at Ten Chimneys – Keith D. MacKay
  • Preservation Diary: A New Shell – Warren Ashworth
  • The Bibliophilist: James F. O’Gorman, Ingrid Steffensen, Paul Sprague, Brian Coleman
  • In Memoriam: Guy Lacy Schless (1929-2011) – Michael J. Lewis
  • Milestones: Lady Lucy Survivor – Sally Buchanan Kinsey
Back Issues

The Victorian Society in America offers back issues of its publications:

$8 each plus postage to members; $10 each plus postage to non-members. 10 or more copies of a single issue: $6 each plus postage.

To order call or email us with your request.  We will confirm availability and cost and will ship the day of payment either by check, credit card or PayPal.

Submissions

We encourage submissions for feature articles on personalities, material culture, architecture, gardens, interior design, fine and decorative arts, and photography. Submitted manuscripts are reviewed by our editorial board. Click here for how to submit an article for consideration.

Articles are usually 3,000-5,000 words with footnotes, as necessary, and 6 to 8 illustrations.  Permissions for illustrations are the sole responsibility of the author.

Manuscripts should be prepared following the current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Permission to publish is the responsibility of the author and should be submitted with the manuscript.

The Victorian Society in America and the editors assume no responsibility for the loss or damage of any material.

Editorial submissions may be sent via e-mail in Word format to:

Warren Ashworth, Editor, Nineteenth Century nineteenthcentury@victoriansociety.org

Editor

Warren Ashworth

Consulting Editor

William Ayres

Book Review Editor

Kathleen Eagen Johnson

Managing Editor / Graphic Designer

Wendy Midgett