Tower of London

In 1851, England hosted the Great Exhibition to showcase the might and power of the British Empire. It was such a special occasion that the home of the exhibition, the Crystal Palace, was designed specifically for the event (Keach 602). The Great Exhibition considered the first World’s Fair, a large event presented to the public to show items and ideas from all over the globe (“World’s Fair”). Reading about this grand event makes me wonder about the public and how in awe they must have been from…

This ‘film” took place during the Victorian Era (1832-1902). The industrialization of London took place during that time as well, there were a lot of people losing their jobs and as a result of that it created a lot of financial instability. Families were forced to send their children to work, at the time this was a normal thing to do. Child labor was normal back then, if your family couldn’t afford to send you to school you were sent to work. The Victorian Era was a time of growth and change.…

While Elizabethan England was on the rise to greatness, the number of poor and peasant citizens was also rising. All of these poor people were burdening communities in one way or another. Since poor citizens were becoming such an issue, the city of Norwich decided they needed to take a census and research their city’s people. The census revealed multiple things including that, 2395 of Norwich’s 10,625 people were considered poor, 300 people were in hospitals or poorhouses, 926 were under the age…

During the Elizabethan Era, fashion became more outlandish than it had ever been before. A new kind of silhouette was born, with long thing waits, large ruffs, high collars, and a geometric shape becoming quite popular. Queen Elizabeth became a fashion icon during her reign, and women would do extreme things in order to imitate her. Laws were even passed that limited what colors and materials you could wear according to your class. In the “Peacock Age”, the wackier your clothing was, the better…

When it comes to policing, many problems are still occur that were prevalent when policing first began. The Metropolitan Police Act settled the first organized police force in London. This act was introduced by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Members of this organization would replace watchmen and parish constables. Officers, also known as members of this police force were called “bobbies”, which came after the creator. This organization was led by two magistrates and later on were given the title,…

During the mid 1800s, London had two million people packed into 30 miles of city creating many problems with sanitation. The bad sanitation led to a very dirty city with diseases flourishing, along with a sewer system that was leaking into the drinking wells. John Snow is a physician/anesthesiologist who first makes the link between Cholera and drinking water after studying previous cases. Snow founds the epidemiology center for the city but struggles with medical technology not being very…

For this activity I had to walk around the local mall and identify three stores for men and three stores for women. At first it was a little hard because I would walk past stores like Forever 21, Hollister, JC Penny and ect. What these stores have in common is that they are all coed stores. I was looking for stores that reinforced one gender role more than the other. So for men (and boys) I picked Men’s Warehouse, Cap World, and Champs Sports. For women (and girls) I picked Victoria Secrets,…

How John Snow’s Skepticism and Open-mindedness Influenced His Method of Conducting Research At the beginning of the 18th century little was known about cholera transmission or disease communication in general. The miasma theory was in full force. Most of the science world accepted the miasma theory and completely rejected any other theory for disease transmittance. This greatly hindered advancements in research of communicable diseases because miasmas were understood as a fact and no…

horrific crimes as well. This fact is what makes those punishments so important. As evils both great and small were rising up, there had to be punishments to meet them at the pass. The Victorian era implemented punishments that not only benefitted London, but would be very influential to the American Justice system and systems like it. The Victorian Era was a departure from the more barbaric practices of the eras it followed. Police became a more common occurrence in the streets, and trials…

Steven Johnson’s “The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World” examines the disastrous Cholera epidemic that struck London-- one of the world’s first urbanized centers-- in the summer of 1854. It delineates the rapid movement of the Vibrio cholerae bacteria through an area lacking proper infrastructure to accommodate a population branching into the millions, and relays the importance of scientific understanding through…