A Little History

Major Events and Culture

The 1870s were part of the Victorian era.  Queen Victoria, who had reigned in England since 1837, died in January of 1901.  Because her reign lasted for about 63.5 years, there were many people alive at this time who had never known life without Victoria as queen.  In America, this time, during the late 19th century, was also known as the Gilded Age (considered to range from about the 1870s to the early 1900s).  When you gild something, you cover wood, stone, or a much cheaper metal with a thin layer of gold for decoration.  To some people, this represented an era where apparent prosperity and economic growth for some layers of society covered up more serious problems of poverty and inequality beneath the surface.

In the United States, in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment allowed African American men to vote. (The Amendment that allowed women to vote would come in the 20th century, 50 years later.) In spite of this Amendment, Southern states tried to create as many obstacles as they could to keep African American men from voting, including adding special poll taxes or literacy tests for voters. One of the goals of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s was to get rid of these arbitrary obstacles. Feelings in the South were still extremely bitter after the end of the Civil War and slavery, and in 1871, Congress allowed President Grant to declare martial law and send the military to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a vigilante group that rose shortly after the Civil War and would continue to commit acts of terror and violence into the 20th century, and ensure that the 14th Amendment was enforced in the former slave-holding states.

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed a good part of the city. The exact cause of the fire was never determined, although there have been several different theories, and popular legend attributed it to a cow that kicked over a lantern (which was the inspiration for a few novelty songs about the fire, including one that became a popular camp song for children).

Society was becoming more industrialized and urban.  Populations had already started shifting from the countryside to the big cities, and factories were increasing production of consumer goods.  New technological developments were changing people’s lives.  Some people were already starting to use electric lights, although, particularly in rural areas, many were still using oil lamps.  Other new technological developments were beginning to make daily life easier.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone. Use of the telephone by ordinary people would increase throughout the following decades.

One of the other notable events of this decade was the invention of the phonograph in 1877 by Thomas Edison. (This was not the first sound recording device in existence, but Edison’s device, which could both record and play back sounds, did make recorded sound, including music, more accessible.)

Children

For many, being a child during these years was difficult.  Child labor, even for rather young children, was still legal in the United States and would remain legal, in some form, for many more years. Children growing up on family farms would naturally engage in farm chores, supervised by parents and older siblings, but as the country became more industrialized, children were increasingly used in factories.  Children were also used in coal mining, which had its own dangers and health risks.  Poor families and immigrants often relied on money that their children earned to help make ends meet, and industries profited from their cheap labor, which made it difficult to keep rules and limits in place for the children’s welfare.

The practice of sending homeless or parentless children on “Orphan Trains” (typically called “Baby Trains” or “Mercy Trains” at the time) from the big cities on the East Coast of the United States to live and work on farms in the Midwest (or even further west) began in the 1850s and continued until the 1920s.  The theory was that living in the country and working on farms would be more wholesome for them than remaining in crowded cities. For many of them, it did work out, and they lived better lives that they would have had otherwise.  However, some were simply exploited as a source of cheap labor.

Children from more affluent families were more likely to focus on education rather than working, although many did not pursue higher education.  In those days, not many jobs required college degrees, and more people could get decent jobs with a high school education or less.  (Back when I was studying journalism, my teacher explained that newspaper articles are traditionally written at about an 8th grade reading level (roughly age 13 or 14 in the United States), partly to make them accessible for different age groups and reading abilities and partly because, for a long time, that was about the standard education level of adults who could read.)

It was common for babies to be delivered at home rather than in a hospital, and in the case of families who lived in rural areas, it was more likely that the birth would be attended by family members or women from neighboring farms than by a physician.  Infant mortality rates were higher during this period than in modern times because the level medical care available wasn’t as good, antibiotics like penicillin had not yet been developed so infectious diseases were more likely to turn deadly, and there were less vaccines for preventing diseases in the first place.  It was fairly common for families to lose at least one child in infancy.  This is also part of the reason why the overall life expectancy was lower.  It wasn’t that adults would always die at a much younger age (although that did happen sometimes because of diseases or accidents); it was also that quite a lot of people didn’t make it to adulthood, or even out of early childhood, in the first place.  Remember that an “average lifespan” for a decade is an “average” number (the “mean” in math), not the most common number by itself (the “mode” in math).  The difference is important because, to find out what age an adult would likely live to once they reached adulthood, you would have to focus on the average age at death only for those who reached adulthood, not including infants and children.  Adding in the infant mortalities brings down the average overall and can give you a false picture that no one ever lived to see their grandchildren, which was not the case.  So, if a person managed to survive some of the riskier points of life, such as early childhood or the child-bearing years for women, their odds of living to what we might consider a more normal lifespan might be better than you think.  Of course, that’s “if.”  People who lived at this time period would have been aware of the dangers of diseases and other risks for themselves and their children, and they would have known that even if they survived to adulthood, they might well lose a child someday.  The good news is that, during the coming 20th century, new medicines and vaccines helped to save many lives that would otherwise have been lost, giving this generation’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren a far better chance in life than they had.

Literature

In literature, the French author Jules Verne published Around the World in Eighty Days in 1872.

Anna Sewell published her book Black Beauty in 1877, which drew attention to the issue of animal cruelty. It also became an inspiration for “pony books“, which are children’s books that focus on the relationship between children and horses and how the children learn to ride and take care of horses. In modern times, this type of book is particularly popular with girls, but there have been horse books for boys as well.

Children’s Fiction Books

General Fiction

Black Beauty (1877)

The story of a beautiful black horse and his owners. By Anna Sewell.

Eight Cousins (1874)

Rose Campbell is an orphan who has been living at a boarding school for girls, but she has now come to live with her aunts, who all live on a hill known as “the Aunt Hill” with Rose’s several male cousin. Rose has quite an adjustment, getting used to chaotic family life with a bunch of boys, but Rose’s Uncle Alec realizes that Rose can benefit from some healthy outdoor activity and good, old-fashioned fun. By Louisa May Alcott.

Little Men (1871)

Jo March, from Little Women, is now grown up and married and has sons.  She and her husband run a small school for orphaned boys together.  Part of the Little Women series. By Louisa May Alcott.

Rose in Bloom (1876)

Sequel to Eight Cousins. Now a young woman, Rose returns from an extended trip abroad and faces offers of romance and marriage. However, Rose thinks that some of these offers are based more on her money than herself, and she wants to preserve her identity as an independent woman. By Louisa May Alcott.

Under the Lilacs (1878)

A boy runs away from a circus with his trained dog in search of his father and a better life. By Louisa May Alcott.

Series

Carr Family Series

Children’s book series from the 19th century about the Carr family, especially their daughter, Katy. 1872-1890.

Elsie Dinsmore

A young girl struggles to become close to her widowed father after he returns from an extended trip in Europe. The stories emphasize Christian values. It was a highly popular series during the 19th century. By Martha Finley. 1867-1905.

The original stories take place in the American South before the Civil War and contain language and situations that would be inappropriate for modern children. The books have received criticism for being too preachy and for having an abusive father. However, revised editions of the books was published in the late 1990s, and there were Elsie Dinsmore dolls to go with the books. I’ve never read any of these, either the old or the new. I hadn’t even heard of them before I started researching children’s books from this period, although I later discovered some books for children and adults that reference this series, including some adult mystery books by Elizabeth Peters..

Mildred Keith

A tie-in series with the Elsie Dinsmore series. Mildred is a cousin of Elsie. The series emphasizes similar Christian themes. Mildred and her husband end up becoming abolitionists and support the union during the Civil War. This series was also revised and reissued during the early 2000s. By Martha Finley. 1876-1894.

Adventure

Tom Sawyer (1876)

In 1840s Missouri, a young boy gets into mischief and has adventures with his best friend. Then, the boys witness a murder and uncover a fortune in stolen gold. By Mark Twain.

Fantasy

At the Back of the North Wind (1871)

A poor boy is taken on a magical journey by the North Wind that changes his life forever. By George MacDonald

The Cuckoo Clock (1877)

A magical cuckoo clock allows a girl to travel to amazing places. By Mary Louisa Molesworth.

The Lost Princess (1975)

A morality fairy tale. A princess and a shepherd girl, coincidentally born on the same day, are both horribly spoiled by their parents. A wise woman intervenes, taking them from their parents and trying to change their ways. The princess learns to change, but the shepherd girl remains spoiled. The shepherd girl’s parents are punished by being forced to deal with the problem they’ve created, stuck with their spoiled, selfish daughter. The king and queen turn out to be so superficial that they can’t recognize their own daughter when she returns to them, and they are punished with blindness until they change their ways, cared for by the daughter they refused to recognize. By George MacDonald.

The Princess and the Goblin (1872)

A young princess, while exploring a hidden part of the castle where she lives, discovers a room occupied by a mysterious woman who only the princess can see, possibly the spirit of her great-grandmother.  The things she tells the princess and the princess’s new friendship with a young boy who is a miner help to save her from the goblins, who have evil intentions toward her and her kingdom.  By George MacDonald.

Through the Looking-Glass (1871)

Alice returns to the chaotic, magical Wonderland when she steps through a mirror.  Sequel to Alice in Wonderland.  By Lewis Carroll.

Series

Children’s Non-Fiction

Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871)

A book of nonsense poems, including The Owl and the Pussy-cat. By Edward Lear.

Under the Window: Pictures and Rhymes for Children (1879)

A book of poetry written and illustrated by Kate Greenaway.

Children of the Decade

Children born in this decade in the United States:

Popular 1870s Names – Most would be names that we would consider “classics” in the early 21st century, like: Mary, Anna, Emma, John, William, and James.

They were born in the decade following the end of the Civil War. Their parents may have actually taken part in it or seen slavery first-hand. Talk of the Civil War and its aftermath likely dominated their earliest years.

They would have been in their 20s or 30s around the time the Wright brothers built and flew their first airplanes during the early 1900s.  Their earliest memories would be from a time before aviation existed.

They would have been in their 30s through their 40s during World War I (1914-1918) and would have remembered the event afterward.  Some of them may have actually taken part in the war.  All of them would have called the war “The Great War” before World War II.

They were born before women in the United States could vote.  None of their mothers had the right to vote at the time of their births or for their entire childhoods.  They would later be adults in their 40s and 50s when women’s suffrage was granted.  Girls born in this decade may have been among the first women to vote in the United States after the ratification of the 19th Amendment (although some western states did have women voting even before that).

They lived during a time when people not only did not have television but also did not have home radios (which were invented and popularized in the 1920s).  If you wanted music at home, you had to either learn to sing or play an instrument yourself, listen to a family member who could, or use a phonograph (early record player) to play a record.  Phonographs, developed in 1877 by Thomas Edison, commonly were of the wind-up variety, so no electricity was needed.  They were adults by the time home radios were invented.

They would have been in their 50s and 60s during the Great Depression.  By then, many of them would be married with children of their own who were grown or nearly grown.  Their children could have been among those who lost their jobs or were struggling to find work while still providing for their families.  Their family’s lives may have been marked by poverty, uncertainty, and movement from place to place as the parents searched for work.

They would later have been in their 60s or 70s during World War II.  Some of them may have seen their sons or even grandsons go overseas to fight.  These people were parents and grandparents of the “Greatest Generation.”

They would have been elderly at the beginning of the Cold War and the beginning of the technology race and the invention of space flight.  They would not have lived to see the end of the Cold War, which happened when they would have been 110 years old or more.

They would have been in their 80s and 90s (those who were still alive) as the Civil Rights Movement took place.  For those who went to school as children, their schools were segregated by race.  Their children’s schools would also have been segregated.  Their grandchildren or great-grandchildren may have been among the first to attend desegregated schools, and they may not have lived to see it.

They would not have to have lived to witness the time people gained the ability to access the Internet and send and receive e-mail from home computers in the 1990s.

Children born in this decade would also have read books from the following decade, the 1880s, in their youth. However, children who were old enough to read some of the books published in the early part of this decade when they were first sold would have been born in the preceding decade, the 1860s.

Children’s Authors Were Children, Too!

Everyone was young once, and I’d just like to take this opportunity to remind readers that authors born around this time would have grown up like other children of their time, witnessing the same events and reading the same books as they grew up.

Children’s authors born in this decade:

Helen Fuller Orton – November 1, 1872 – Author of Mystery Up the Winding Stair (1948), Mystery in the Apple Orchard (1954), Mystery in the Old Cave (1950), and other mysteries for children.

Lucy Maud Montgomery – November 30, 1874 – Author of the Anne of Green Gables series (1908-1921)

Jack London – January 12, 1876 – Author of White Fang (1906)

John Masefield – June 1, 1878 – Author of The Midnight Folk (1927) and The Box of Delights (1935)

Other Resources

Documentary Films

CrashCourse

CrashCourse is a YouTube channel with fun educational videos on a variety of topics and different periods of history. The videos are fairly short for educational lectures. Most are less than 15 minutes long. These videos are intended for teenagers and older, so be aware that there may be topics and language inappropriate for younger children.

THE ULTIMATE FASHION HISTORY: The 1870s – 1890s

An educational lecture about clothing in the late 19th century. Discusses the introduction of the bustle, which replaced the hoop skirt in women’s fashions, and leg-of-mutton sleeves. About 20 minutes long.

For more about 1870s culture:

The People History: 1870 to 1879

Significant events of the decade

Wikipedia: 1870s

Lists of 1870s children’s books:

19th-Century Girls’ Series

A table of authors of 19th century girls’ series books and their works. The books range across the 19th century.

Nineteenth-Century American Children & What They Read

Explains about the lives of children in the 19th century and books and magazines that they read. The focus seems to be on the 1870s and earlier.

Wikipedia: 1870s children’s books

Books By Decade

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