March 19, 2025, by Chloe

Through the Lens: A Victorian Travel Album

Following on from our previous blog, which unravelled the mystery surrounding a collection of 19th century slides depicting buildings and landscapes in India, this week we’re exploring another collection of Victorian photographs, following in the footsteps of Carrie S. North as she travels around France, Monaco, Algeria and Italy in 1891…

Photo of the Casino Gardens at Monte Carlo, from Carrie S. North’s photo album, MS 183; c.1891

Unfortunately, very little is known about North herself, but some information can be uncovered by tracing her name, which is embossed on the front cover of the album. The birth of a Carrie Sarah North was registered in Nottingham in June 1863, and in the 1891 census, a Carrie S. North from Nottingham was resident at the Perranporth Hotel in Cornwall. A woman by the same name married one William Howard Bradwell, also of Nottingham, in 1891 – meaning that the album may be a record of their honeymoon, though that’s quite a tentative suggestion as she does use her maiden name on the cover. There is little else known about her other than the basic information which is accessible about most people from this period – the births of her children and her eventual death – though we can gather that she must have been from a relatively wealthy background in order to fund her travels.  

Photograph of the Via Roma, Naples from Carrie S. North’s photograph album, MS 183; c.1880-1900.

So, it seems we must rely on her album to speak for itself. It’s a handsome volume, containing many black and white printed photographic images which have been pasted onto its pages, many of which feature printed labels identifying the location. These labels, combined with evidence from other sources which suggests both that mass-market tourist photographs were popular at the time and that bespoke travel photography was out of reach for the vast majority, indicates that that the photographs were either purchased as souvenirs or clipped from published travel guides. Inconveniently for us, none of the photographs are dated, though based on the quality of the images themselves – as well as the level of technology featured within them, for instance the fact that all vehicles which appear are drawn by horses – we can estimate that they date from between 1880 and 1900 – roughly contemporary with the date given on the front of the album.  

Capri and the Barbarossa Castle, from album of European travel photographs collected by Carrie S. North, MS 183; c.1880-1900.

The images themselves variously feature landscapes, buildings, monuments, statues and street scenes from a wide range of places. These include: Algiers, then under French rule; Cannes – long before the establishment of its film festival; Monte Carlo – newly established as the gambling centre it has become today; Capri, the former retreat of the Roman emperors; and Ajaccio in Corsica, a popular tourist destination then as now, though I doubt you could get quite as much Napoleon merchandise back in the day.   

Photograph of the Marina Grande, Capri, Italy, from album of European travel photographs collected by Carrie S. North, MS 183; c.1880-1900.

Many of the other locations depicted mirror those who were visited by Dr Wrench, whose travel diary was the subject of a series of blogs last year:  including Paris, San Remo (today famous for its music festival), Genoa, Pisa – with its tower leaning perhaps a little more than today, as it has since been reinforced to prevent toppling – and Naples. Although Wrench’s journey took place around 15 years before North’s, her photographs nonetheless provide an invaluable visual equivalent to the descriptions he gives of the places which featured on his itinerary.

If you would like to look at both side by side, why not make a visit to our reading room? To find out more, or to book an appointment today, please contact us at mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk.   

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