Latest on How The Victorians Did Gadgets (Pics)

The British Library in London is playing host to an exhibition of gadgets and technology from the Victorian era and early 20th century. The collection belongs to collector and author Maurice Collins and is promoting the Business and Intellectual Property center at the library.

Like the lace flounces and beribboned furbelows of women’s dresses that concealed the stifling steel and whalebone corsets beneath, the honeycomb tissue, hearts and flowers, and elaborate typography of Victorian cards concealed an unrelenting and faintly sinister protocol. Adherence to that protocol determined membership in the burgeoning club of middle class “wannabes” whose values cards both reflected and reinforced. Cards were the ambassadors of social convention, and their subtle, covert messages were well understood by those who used them as tools in the creation of an image of respectability in an increasingly demanding and judgemental world.

What was school like in the Victorian era? Did country schools differ from city schools? What subjects did children study? This program looks at these questions and compares and contrasts education in the Victorian era with education today.

The Royal Botanic Gardens already has a few of Nepal’s most elusive plants. Collected over 100 years ago by Victorian explorers, the delicate plants have been nurtured by generations of botanists. Back in their native homeland some have not fared quite so well and are on the verge of extinction. The botanists hope to reintroduce Victorian and modern seedlings to Nepal from the Edinburgh gardens.