Undergraduate Research in Late Victorian and Early Twentieth-Century Children’s Periodicals

Abstract: This paper describes how the use of Victorian and early twentieth-century children’s periodicals in undergraduate classes can deepen student investment in the period and foster their appreciation of the research process. It outlines two research assignments and proposes a number of variations. Both assignments require students to select their own topic, perhaps an object, practice, place, person, event, or emotion. This gives them a stake in the material. An assignment on Boy’s Own Paper asks students to consider what the periodical teaches readers to desire, value, or perceive about their topic. This helps them to see the relationship between knowledge, discourse, and power. A second assignment requires students to compare the way their chosen topic is handled in Boy’s Own Paper and Girl’s Own Paper . This helps them to see how gender norms are constructed, resisted, and upheld. Ultimately, these assignments enable students to recognize that Victorians and Edwardians were not born; like us, they were made, in large part by discourse.