Lecture Haunted Hearts and Household Ghosts: Dead but Not Departed in Victoria’s Britain

When Queen Victoria’s beloved husband Prince Albert died in 1861, she swathed herself in black and mourned his loss for the rest of her life. On the night before Halloween, come explore Victorian-style mourning in a light-hearted look at the rituals and relics – from graveyard gatherings and seances to posthumous portraits, hair jewelry, and spirit photography – that gave the dead a vital role in daily life.
The presentation will be given by Debra Mancoff, a popular lecturer, Scholar in residence at the Newberry Library, and the author of numerous books on Britain in the 19th century.