Archives

ARCHIVES

The discovery of a new picture archive online (or new to me, at least) called Viewfinder, architecturally-orientated, courtesy of English Heritage ... "The Picture Gallery contains illustrations of the industrial age, social history, architecture and archaeology, dating from the 1840s to the present day. The Stories set the photographs in a wider context." See my Links page for other libraries.

Albert Palace

ALBERT PALACE

Another great forgotten building of London. Located on the south-east side of Battersea Park, it was a relatively short-lived exhibition building, on the lines of the Alexandra Palace, "A handsome glass structure comprising large halls for concerts and general entertainments.". It gets a brief mention here. This site implies the building was re-assembled from the 1872 Dublin Exhibition (as the Alexandra was from the 1862 Exhibition). It now has its own page on the site, with links to the ILN Picture Library.

London Hospitals

LONDON HOSPITALS

Occasionally a random search retrieves an invaluable site which I wish I'd had access to in the past. The site in question is a detailed, free, online book discoursing on London's hospital system, courtesy of one Geoffrey Rivett - excellent!

Cartes de Visite

CARTES DE VISITE

A reader asks us to mention http://www.reminiscene.co.uk/, a collection of cartes and postcards, set up with the express intention of uniting the former deceased Victorians with their descendants. If, like me, you find old photographs endlessly fascinating, it's worth a browse.

Victorian Illustration

VICTORIAN ILLUSTRATION

Patrick Leary on the VICTORIA list alerts readers to The Database of Mid-Victorian wood-engraved Illustration. It's a great piece of digital preservation - almost 900 images from c.1862 culled from popular journals, including Cornhill Magazine, Good Words, Illustrated London News, Leisure Hour, London Society, Once a Week, many by famous artists ... try it out for yourself.