About Us
The Victorian Web is one of the oldest scholarly websites, originating in 1987 at Brown University and entering the Internet in 1994. Now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it presents Victorian literature, history, art, and culture through an interconnected digital environment.
Our Mission
To help readers and scholars discover meaningful connections across Victorian-era texts, images, events, and ideas using a richly linked hypertext format.
Why We Exist
Most digital resources treat information as isolated items retrievable through search. The Victorian Web offers an alternative: a multivocal, contextual, and exploratory space designed to reveal relationships across disciplines and perspectives.
What We Do
We provide a continually expanding collection of interlinked documents, images, and entire books. The site connects authors, works, historical events, artistic movements, and cultural contexts, allowing users to explore material from multiple angles.
How We Do it
We use a hypertext network that emphasizes links over search, enabling deeper exploration.
We enhance legacy print materials by adding images, details, and contextual connections not available in the original books.
We experiment with digital media, such as rotatable images of artworks, to improve user experience.
We encourage multiple perspectives rather than a single authoritative voice.
Our Impact
By presenting information within a web of relationships, we help users see the richness of Victorian culture and scholarship. The site serves students, educators, and researchers worldwide and fosters new ways of reading and interpreting texts and images.
Our Story
Founded in 1987 as a tool to help students understand interdisciplinary connections, the Victorian Web has grown into a global scholarly resource. Over time, it expanded its network of links—from Dickens and his era to architecture, religion, politics, and beyond—while continuing to explore innovative forms of digital scholarship.