Florence Nightingale’s Rival was a Fearless Transgender Man the World Forgot

The secret life of Dr. James Miranda Barry would make one hell of a movie. This remarkable character would spend decades working as a pioneering military surgeon for the British Army, travelling the world, reforming entire healthcare systems and fighting the corner of society’s undesirables. In Africa, Barry performed one of the first successful C-sections…

My Victorian Camping Trip

Once upon a time, before Instagram, a group of young friends went on a camping trip and captured some pretty great memories. More than a hundred years have passed, but time has stood still for these smiley Victorians in black & white – almost as if a friend has returned home from their weekend out of…

Stay at the Home of Victorian “Axe Murderess”

“Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.” The murders of Andrew J. Borden and his wife Abby on the morning of August 4th, 1892, shocked the citizens of Fall River, Massachusetts and caused an international sensation when Mr. Borden’s 32…

And Now, A Brief Compendium of Neo-Victorians

Neo-Victorianism – a curious and persevering movement of reproducing, or in some way, reinterpreting, Victorian ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, wearing top hats, corsets, silky waistcoats, an appreciation for Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland tattoos and morbid mysteries. We’re not here to wax nostalgic about the wonders of Victorian living,…

When Victorians Embraced Same Sex Marriage for Women Over A Century Ago

It’s not widely known that same-sex unions were recognised in Ancient Greece and Rome, Mesopotamia and some regions of China, ranging from informal relationships to highly ritualised unions. Perhaps even more surprising, is that that those notoriously tight-lipped Victorians were open to it as well. There was a loophole in the 19th and early 20th century, when…

Who Will Rescue this New York Manor Worthy of a Tim Burton Movie?

This incredible historic home has been sitting on the market for a little longer than we’re comfortable with. Fairview Manor is the sort of place that’s pretty much straight out of Tim Burton’s imagination, so it’ll take a special sort of owner to take it on. But of course, pairing quirky houses with even quirkier…

A Brief Compendium of Mesmerising and Macabre Memento Mori

We often try to avoid death. Sweep it under the rug, pretend it doesn’t exist and live in comfortable denial. But we weren’t always this way. In fact, many past societies have been completely obsessed with death, as seen in their art, literature, and philosophy. It can all be examined through a study of one…

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A Hauntingly Good Guide to Autumn in New York

No one does Fall like the East Coast. The air grows perfectly crisp, and a tide of orange leaves sweeps the Catskills and Central Park alike in such cinematic fashion, you practically expect Meg Ryan to come sauntering around every corner with a jug of piping hot cider. Of course, this year is different in…

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A Bewitching Compendium of Victorians Letting their Hair Down

There was one fairytale character in particular that seemed to leave an impression on the ladies of the Victorian era. Rapunzel was originally written in 1790 by Friedrich Schulz and retold by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. The story was told during the Georgian era where long, loose straggling locks were unheard of and ringlets in…

The African Women who dress like Victorians

Photo by Jim Naughten We’ve already met the Sapeurs, a subculture of extraordinarily dressed male dandies from the Congo who wear expensive tailored suits, elegantly smoke on their pipes and stroll their war-torn slums in immaculate footwear… Now it’s time to meet the women with a flair for western fashion of another era… In the south…