Victorian Periodicals Review

Congratulations to VPR’s 2026 prizewinners: Mehran Ghandi (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Sampurna Nandy (University of Bristol). They'll each receive $500 and publication in an upcoming issue of VPR. To learn more about our annual essay prizes, visit rs4vp.org/awards. @rs4vp.org #VictorianStudies

Check out the latest batch of book reviews in VPR 58.4: muse.jhu.edu/issue/57248 #VictorianStudies @rs4vp.org

In VPR 58.4 Ruth Quante examines how politically diverse periodicals discussed women’s colleges in the 1870s-80s. Discover how The Women’s Penny Paper, Woman’s World, and Girl’s Own Paper relied on the rhetoric of separate spheres even when promoting women’s education: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Sarah Bliss argues that while the #Strand presented British masculinity and nat'l authority as enduring, The Hound of the Baskervilles forecasted the decline of both gendered and nat'l boundaries. In VPR 58.4, Bliss resituates Doyle’s novel in its periodical context: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Morgan Tanith Coleman examines how periodical fiction expressed public anxieties about outbreaks and intercultural contact as Britain began to recover from recurrent waves of cholera throughout the 1830s–60s. Read it in VPR 58.4: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

In VPR 58.4, Shih-Wen Sue Chen analyzes how young readers of the religious periodical _The Children’s Prize_ were encouraged to think about their place within their natural environment. Read it at muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl.... @rs4vp.org

CFP: Movements & Migrations (Summer 2028). Building on the theme of #RSVP2026, this special issue will consider how the topic of movements and migrations helps us theorize #Victorian #periodicals in new ways. Proposals due September 1, 2026. Details at rs4vp.org/cfp-movement... @rs4vp.org

VPR 58.4 is hot off the press! It's great reading-whether you're gearing up for #RSVP26 in Dublin this week or just following the conference on our socials. muse.jhu.edu/issue/57248 @rs4vp.org

Still hoping to apply for one of VPR’s annual prizes? Good news—we’ve extended the deadline to July 1! Learn more about the #VanArsdelPrize and the #ExpandingTheField Prize at rs4vp.org/awards. #CFP #VictorianStudies @rs4vp.org

Are you a grad student working on Victorian periodicals and newspapers? Submit your essay for @rs4vp.org's VanArsdel Prize, deadline June 15, 2026. The winner receives $500 and publication in VPR. rs4vp.org/awards/vanar... #VictorianStudies

VPR’s Expanding the Field Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding essay that diversifies the existing geographic, racial, and ethnic composition of C19 periodical studies. The winner receives $500 and publication in VPR. Submissions due June 15, 2026. More details at rs4vp.org/awards.

Anne McKee Stapleton considers how American and Scottish #editors harnessed Walter Scott’s global popularity to establish periodicals. Learn how the Waverley Magazine and Waverley Journal fostered literary alliances among women under the banner of #Waverley: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

How are periodical scholars decolonizing #19thC studies? Join us for our next #RSVPDigiEvent on Friday May 15 for a special roundtable featuring our past winners of the @vpreditors.bsky.social "Expanding the Field" Prize. As always, this event is free. Register here: rs4vp.org/expanding-fi...

In VPR 58.3, Joseph Brett-Demetre explores Reynolds’s revival of the term “flunkeyism” to accuse the first working-class MPs of class treachery. Learn how the term evolved from anti-aristocratic insult to influential concept of class betrayal in late C19 politics: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/985893

In VPR 58.3, @laurenottaviani.bsky.social examines the discourse on photography in the monthly magazine _The Woman at Home_ (1893–1918). Read more about how women photographers visualized their work even as they reinforced domestic femininity: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

NEW ISSUE ALERT! We're so excited about the latest issue of VPR, which features essays on women's photography, Reynolds's Newspaper, and Walter Scott's transatlantic influence on women's magazines, along with the massive RSVP Bibliography 2020-24. ToC here: muse.jhu.edu/issue/56615 @rs4vp.org

CFP: VPR will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2027. We’re taking this historic occasion to capture the state of our field in a “KEYWORDS” special issue guest edited by Fionnuala Dillane, @jimmussell.bsky.social & @mdamkjaer.bsky.social. Proposals due March 30. Details: rs4vp.org/vpr-cfp-spec...

We’re delighted to announce that @laurenottaviani.bsky.social (KU Leuven) has joined VPR's staff as Associate Editor. Lauren will oversee book reviews, and she welcomes suggestions for special features. Visit rs4vp.org/vpr/ to message the editors or volunteer to review a book. #VictorianStudies

In VPR 58.2, Sofie Vandepitte dives into Punch’s satire of British #seaside #tourism for the elite and lower classes. Discover how #Punch represented Welsh resorts as loci of both decadence and primitiveness: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

In VPR 58.2, Atul V. Nair examines how the Anglo-Indian "Calcutta Review" debated the value of Indian literatures with other Indian and British #periodicals. Learn how the CR used evangelical ideals to contest the authority of Orientalism in the 1840s-50s: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

In VPR 58.2, @kyleeanneh.bsky.social traces reproductions of F.W. Burton’s 1840 watercolor “A Blind Girl at A Holy Well” to consider how #periodicals deployed its sentimental depiction of blindness in mid-century debates about Irish culture and nationhood: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

In VPR 58.2 @amymatthewson.bsky.social examines how ILN repurposed images of China in its 1842 coverage of the Opium War. Learn how violent textual accounts were juxtaposed with tranquil landscapes to create a cohesive narrative about British military power: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

NEW ISSUE ALERT! You won’t want to miss these articles on China in the ILN, the textual afterlife of F. W. Burton’s A Blind Girl at a Holy Well, the Calcutta Review and the imperial anglophone periodical circuit, and images of Welsh seaside tourism in Punch. muse.jhu.edu/issue/55969 @rs4vp.org

Many many thanks to our panelists, @kmalonephd.bsky.social (VPR), @devingarofalo.bsky.social (Victorian Poetry), and Janice Schroeder of @victorianreview.bsky.social for sharing their tips, tricks, wisdom, and insights!

VPR is seeking an Associate Editor to oversee book reviews and assist the editor with special features. This is a great opportunity for a #periodicals scholar looking to develop editorial and leadership skills. Applications are due December 15. Details at rs4vp.org/vpr-seeks-as... @rs4vp.org

Rachel Calder examines how The Bookseller #tradejournal laid the foundation for the communication and information system that remains at the heart of today’s global #publishing industry. Read about founder Joseph Whitaker’s innovative strategies in VPR 58.1: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Drawing on a transatlantic archive, @miladaskalova.bsky.social explores the experience of time in asylum #periodicals. Learn how these publications served as instruments of both recalibration and resistance in the latest issue of VPR: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Nilkantha Pal investigates the emergence of children’s #periodicals in Bengali literary culture. Learn how these vernacular periodicals helped shape a literary selfhood among Bengali middle classes from the 1870s onward: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org #ExpandingTheField

Peterson Fellowships open today! Named for Yale professor and our dear friend, Linda H. Peterson, the Peterson Fellowship is designed to support one scholar for four full-time months conducting research focused on the British periodical press of long #19thC. Applications due Nov. 15!

In VPR 58.1 @adeleguyton.bsky.social compares Pearson’s 1897 serialization of "The War of the Worlds" to #hgwells ’s later revisions for book publication. Discover how the serial narrator underscores the value of layperson experiences to scientific knowledge: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

NEW ISSUE ALERT! It's a happy day when you find the latest VPR in your mailbox. This number includes the 2024 VanArsdel and Expanding the Field essays as well as articles on asylum periodicals and the bookselling trade. Treat yourself to some delightful reading: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55567 @rs4vp.org

Congrats to yevhenyashchuk.bsky.social for his #VanArsdelPrize winning essay “‘A Special Correspondent of the Times Sends a Telegram from Odessa’: Kyiv Newspapers, Victorian Media, and the Translation of the International Crisis in 1875–78.” Learn about VPR’s prizes at rs4vp.org/awards. @rs4vp.org

Every issue of Victorian Periodicals Review includes reviews of new academic titles related to #periodicals studies. If you're a scholar interested in reviewing for VPR, just visit rs4vp.org/vpr to volunteer and indicate your areas of expertise. @rs4vp.org #RSVP2025

Drawing on #PeriodicalStudies, #narratology, and #MediaTheory, Camille Stallings reveals the structures of anti-working-class bias in a range of journalistic genres. See how narrative techniques shape public opinion about the working classes in VPR 57.4: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Anne-Marie Millim considers how #Dickens ’s journals championed the view that only a native speaker can master a language. Learn how contributors to #HouseholdWords and #AllTheYearRound worked to implement a prestige language in VPR 57.4: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Annemarie McAllister examines the surprising success of the #Temperance Companion (1894–1901) in navigating the currents of the commercial market. Read about this weekly broadsheet’s adventurous female editor and its relationship to #NewJournalism in VPR57.4: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Sara Lodge @victoriandetective.bsky.social analyzes how Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett's detective stories, published as a series in local papers, interrogate capitalism from a feminist and socialist viewpoint. Read more in VPR 57.4: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

In VPR 57.4, Ali Hatapçı @alihatapci.bsky.social examines how the Gardeners’ Chronicle, The Builder, and The Field presented general news content to their specialist readers. Learn more about the surprising role of news in transforming class #periodicals: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

VPR's special issue "Currents and Currencies in the #Victorian #PeriodicalPress" is out now! Huge thanks to guest editors Victoria Clarke (@vjctorianist.bsky.social) and Annemarie McAllister. Check out their intro essay: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Just one week left to submit to the VanArsdel Prize! Give us your best essay and you might win 🤑 and publication in an upcoming issue of @vpreditors.bsky.social! Submissions guidelines here: rs4vp.org/awards/vanar... #VanArsdelPrize #RSVPprizes #VictorianStudies

⏰ Countdown's on! Just 1 week left to submit to VPR's Expanding the Field Prize! $500 + VPR publication for work that challenges our perceptions of Victorian periodical studies. Deadline is June 15. rs4vp.org/awards/victo... #ExpandTheField #RSVPprizes #DecolonizeVictorianStudies

The scholars and students behind “One More Voice” describe their work to identify, encode, publish, and analyze #BIPOC voices from #Victorian missionary #periodicals. See how this material can transform how we teach canonical texts like Jane Eyre in VPR 57.3: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Have a draft that disrupts the traditional boundaries of #VictorianStudies? Consider submitting it for VPR's Expanding the Field Prize, which honors essays that diversify #19thC periodical studies. Deadline is June 15. Details on our site: rs4vp.org/awards/victo... #DecolonizeTheArchive #RSVPprizes

Putting the final touches on your final #19thC periodicals paper? Why not submit it to our VanArsdel Prize? Submissions are open through June 15! The best grad student essay on Victorian periodicals wins $500 + publication in VPR. rs4vp.org/awards/vanar... #VanArsdelPrize #RSVPprizes

Leslee Thorne-Murphy describes her students’ research and editing work for the Victorian Short Fiction Project, a peer-reviewed digital anthology. Learn how to translate humanities skill sets to life beyond the academy in the latest issue of VPR: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

Iain Crawford argues that undergraduate research experiences are ever more important for demonstrating the value of English studies. Learn how periodicals are especially well-suited sites for student research in the latest issue of VPR: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org

#Periodicals scholars (@rs4vp.org etc). How do you quantify your data? I'm researching adverts and the moment and have been using simple numbers (e.g. issue X has Y no. of advert content) as this is the most straightforward. However, space and sizing is a much more pressing issue for advert content!

Rather than offering a lit survey framed by key contexts, Madeline B. Gangnes requires undergrads to actively excavate those contexts by reading non/fiction in periodicals. Check out VPR 57.3 to learn how digital #VictorianStudies courses can succeed at small colleges: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Melissa Free uses C19 children’s periodicals in undergrad classes to deepen student investment in the period and foster appreciation of the research process. Read about her research assignments for BOP and GOP in the latest issue of VPR: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org #VictorianStudies

In Megan Burke Witzleben’s gen ed course, students connect Victorian serials with modern mass media. Check out VPR’s new pedagogy issue to learn how she uses the London Journal’s 1863 serialization of Lady Audley’s Secret to undiscipline the classroom: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl... @rs4vp.org