English 3840: Transatlantic Journeys   Helpful Links

The Britannia, one of the first transatlantic steamships, carried Charles Dickens to the United States in 1842.

General Interest

John Bull and Uncle Sam -- Companion site for a Library of Congress exhibit on Anglo-American relations.  Includes useful links on politics, language, and popular culture.

Women's Travel Writing 1830-1930 -- A database with texts and other information on numerous authors, including Fanny Trollope.

Gangs of New York --  Official Web site for Martin Scorsese's film about immigration and ethnic conflict in 19th-century New York.

International Society for Travel Writing -- Scholarly organization devoted to the study of travel writing.

Dictionary of Victorian London -- Everything you wanted to know about life in Victorian London.  Of related interest are two sites that allow you to navigate maps of Victorian London:  Greenwood's 1827 Map of London and John Snow's 1859 Map of London.

Visit Britain -- The official government site for those interested in touring contemporary Britain.  The official site for Ireland.

Links by Author

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

• Dickens and America -- Companion site for a recent conference at the University of Lowell-Massachusetts on Dickens in America
• Perkins School for the Blind -- The model school for the blind that Dickens visited in Boston in 1842 is still in operation.
• Eastern State Penitentiary -- This Philadelphia prison  remains one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city.  Dickens visited there when it was still new and considered a model of progressive thinking.  Dickens, however, was horrified by its insistence on total solitary confinement:  the prisoner "never hears of wife or children; home or friends; the life or death of any single creature. He sees the prison-officers, but with that exception he never looks upon a human countenance, or hears a human voice. He is a man buried alive."
• The Britannia -- Information on the steamship Dickens took to the U.S. in 1844.  From the "Shiplist."
• More Dickens Links -- My main Dickens links page

Philip Henry Gosse (1810-1888)

• Letters from Alabama --Selected illustrations from Gosse's Letters from Alabama.
• Father and Son -- Edmund Gosse's classic biography of growing up with his father. 

Mary Seacole (1805-1881)

• Biography -- A biography of Mary Seacole, focusing on her pioneering work as a nurse during the Crimean War.
• Mary Seacole Center -- Official site for the Mary Seacole Center for Nursing Practice.
• Florence Nightingale Museum -- Background on Florence Nightingale.  Seacole describes an encounter with her in the Wonderful Adventures.
• The Crimean War -- A brief history of the Crimean War.