Incredible PRIMARY SOURCE for World History!

Queen Elizabeth II has offered the world access to Queen Victoria's journals online.  This collection covers the years 1832 to her death in 1901.  Included with the journals are drawings, sketches, photos, and more.  The queen kept writing until she passed away.

 Queen Victoria was on the throne from 1837 to 1901 and was  Empress of India from 1877.  In total, her surviving volumes number over 43,000 pages. This unique record covers the day to day routines and insights of a monarch in her reign over the world's largest empire in the 19th century. 

What areas are specifically addressed throughout those 68 years?  Culture, empire and exploration, military, politics and society, royal family, science and technology, and sport are all covered in great detail within.  Use the timeline to search out specific details for any of those 7 areas. 

If you searching for a specific month, day, and year, use the time index.  If your world history is studying the British empire, you could assign different dates to students to research (or if they are familiar with the index, let them select the time periods most important to them in doing their research--PRIMARY SOURCE material).  

If you wish students to explore science and technology, have them use the timeline to guide them or get them started.  On the timeline, they will click on the icon associated with the area they wish to explore.  For example, if they want to research scientific advancements over her reign, they would click on the light bulb icon over any year where it is visible (each year or months within a year highlight a new invention).

If you teach art, take a look at the section on her illustrations.  It could easily be woven into any art appreciation class.  Students could focus on how her skills evolved over time. 


This is an overall recap of the online resource:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S JOURNALS

This link provides the overview of the journals:
INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOURNALS

Here you will find an index to all the journal entries:
TIME INDEX TO SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC DATES

Finally, here is an index to all of her drawings:
QUEEN VICTORIA'S ILLUSTRATIONS

As schools move to COMMON CORE STANDARDS in the coming year, the need to be to identify and use primary resources will be the focus of all the non-elective classes.  Here is a primary source that spans English language, world history, science, art, and mathematics.  It is a gem!

Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS