From the 2011 Charleston Tech Talk. London Low Life brings Victorian London to life through a range of primary-source content and accompanying features. The session will showcase a range of innovative technology from Adam Matthew, including the custom-designed G.I.S. mapping. Examples from collections on Jewish history, World War I and Rock & Roll will also be explored.

1. ADAM MATTHEW EDUCATION
Experience the Original

2. The
Adam Matthew Group

3. Innovative Features in Online Resources…
London Low Life
Jewish Life in America The First World War: Rock and Roll, Counter
c1654-1954 Personal Experiences Culture, Peace and Protest

5. This collection brings to life the teeming
streets of Victorian London.
Topics covered include:
• Working class culture
• Prostitution
• Street Literature
• Slang
• Social Reform
• Popular Music
• The Temperance Movement
Contents include:
• Pamphlets
• Advertisements
• ‘Street Cries’
• Cartoons and Sketches
• Chapbooks
• Autobiographies and Biographies
• Broadsides
London Low Life: Street Culture • Manuscripts
Street Culture, Social Reform and the Victorian
Underworld

6. The Lilly Library
One of the largest rare-book and manuscript libraries in the United States. Founded in 1960 with the
collection of Josiah K. Lilly, Jr, of Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, the library now contains some
fascinating treasures among approximately 400,000 rare books, 6.5 million manuscripts and 100,000
pieces of sheet music.
Materials in London Low Life are taken from several of the Lilly Library’s renowned collections, including
the Michael Sadleir Collection of London Low Life, the Virginia Warren Collection of Street Cries, the
Chapbook Collection and the Pforzheimer Collection of George Gissing’s manuscripts.

7. Rich Variety of Content
Street Cries
These were the lyrical calls of vendors and merchants in the 18th and 19th centuries, hawking their wares in the streets
and markets. Recorded along with pictorial representations of the sellers, they became a popular subject for books.
Chapbooks
Chapbooks were cheaply-produced, pocket-sized booklets, produced from the sixteenth century through to the second
half of the 19th century.
The content varied enormously, although nursery rhymes and folk tales are by far the most popular subject.
Remarkable insight into the literature sold and read on the streets of the London.
Rare Books
‘Fast guides’ to the city, designed for the man-about-town, complement the collections of ephemera and street
literature. These present the range of London’s entertainment, with entries running from the seemly
(restaurants, pubs) to the unseemly (gambling dens, opium dens, brothels etc).
We also include many rare guidebooks and histories of London, designed for more respectable tourists of the
city, covering theatre, sightseeing, restaurants, and practicalities.
A fascinating insight into both the life of the city and its representation to visitors of the period.
Maps
Historic maps ranging from the early 18th century to the 1920s reveal the city’s startling growth in geographical terms.
The rare Tallis’ Street Views, a series of beautifully engraved directories depicting London street by street in wonderful
detail, along with information about the businesses contained within each locale. These views provide us with
invaluable insight into both the architecture and the usage of London’s buildings in the mid-19th century.

28. Personalize Your Browsing

29. Interactive Mapping
Space or “Which areas of Victorian London are most similar / different to each other (and how did that change over time)?”
• The 19th century was a dynamic time for London and its population, and the interactive maps allow the user to explore
the numbers.
• See how and where the population of London changed over 100 years.
• Locations of social institutions throughout London are displayed, helping us understand how the city tried to cope with
the changing nature of its urban population.
Place or “What was it like to be in Victorian London?”
• As London’s population was changing in the 19th century, the city itself was being reshaped.
• Historic basemaps not only give you a top-down view of the city; they also allow you to see what aspects of the city
cartographers felt were important enough to include on their maps.

53. Click images above for 360 views

55. Mai 68: Student Rally in Paris - 28th May 1968 ITN Reporting 67: Berkeley Students versus Governor
Ronald Reagan - 3rd May 1967