Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.
Chat with a librarian, Monday through Friday, 12-2 pm Eastern Time (except Federal Holidays).
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Follow @ChronAmLOC External and subscribe to email alerts and RSS feeds.
Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) is the second longest reigning monarch in British history, following the present Queen Elizabeth. Generally popular, Queen Victoria pushed for social and educational reform and also oversaw the great expansion of England into an empire. As a woman, she constantly dealt with power struggles and detested the ideas of marriage and babies. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| June 20, 1837 | Alexandrina Victoria becomes Queen Victoria at age eighteen. |
|---|---|
| February 10, 1840 | Queen Victoria marries her cousin, Prince Albert. |
| June 16, 1840 | First of many assassination attempts on Queen Victoria. Edward Oxford fires a pistol into the carriage Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were in. |
| August 16, 1858 | Queen Victoria sends the first Transatlantic Telegraph (the Ocean Telegraph) to President Buchanan. |
| May 1861 | Queen Victoria's mother dies. |
| December 14, 1861 | Prince Albert dies. Newspaper speculate Queen Victoria's abdication due to grief and avoidance of public and social duties. |
| March 1876 | Queen Victoria becomes "Empress of India." |
| June 20, 1897 | The United Kingdom celebrates the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign in a ceremony known as Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. |
| January 23, 1901 | Queen Victoria dies surrounded by friends and family. |
