A View from the Vault: Bridgerton Meets Special Collections
By Arline Wilson, Special Collections
“A View from the Vault” showcases some of the unique, notable or rare items that are a part of the Special Collections and Museums holdings at the University of Delaware. Each month, we highlight a different item and share interesting facts or intriguing histories about it. If you are interested in seeing any of the materials featured in person or want to learn more about anything showcased in the series, please contact Special Collections and Museums at AskSpec or AskMuseums.
Set in England’s Regency period (1811-1820), the popular Netflix series Bridgerton presents compelling storylines centered around London’s elite and fashionable Ton society while following the Bridgerton family. There are dashing lords, dazzling debutantes and desperate mothers navigating London’s social season and the marriage mart.
The popularity of Bridgerton illustrates global interest in historical fiction. The Library’s Special Collections can serve as a bridge between past and present, where modern culture meets history and literature. Highlighted below are a few of the historical texts and authors referenced within the series that are housed within Special Collections. With these resources, instructors can create projects and assignments that blend academics with popular contemporary media and relevant, engaging topics.
The title page of Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Mary Wollstonecraft
HQ 1596.W6.1792B
In this book, published in 1792, Wollstonecraft calls for the educational and political rights of women and criticizes the patriarchal treatment of women as social ornaments or property negotiated through marriage. The text allows for interesting analyses of how Bridgerton seasons one and two represent feminine expectations of Ton society during the Regency period. It also sheds light on how Eloise Bridgerton’s character strives to resist these gender constraints by seeking intellectual stimulation and growth when introduced to Wollstonecraft’s text in the series.
The title page and book spines of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Emma: a novel. In three volumes
Jane Austen
PR 4034.E5. 1816
The 1816 edition of Emma in Special Collections is presented in its original three-volume format. With both the original and contemporary single-volume formats, you can delve into deeper analysis of the novel, exploring how format impacts the narrative structure of the story and the reader’s experience. When Eloise Bridgerton abandons Wollstonecraft in favor of Austen’s Emma, she claims the romance novel about a self-delusional heroine offers more truth about women’s reality than Wollstonecraft’s work about women’s rights and breaking from society’s rules, which invites conversation around the feasibility and consequences of women resisting social pressures.
From Lord Byron’s poem “She Walks in Beauty.”
Hebrew Melodies
George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron)
PR 4350.E19
Published in 1815, this text is a collection of 30 poems, most of which were written by Byron, that were written to accompany music composed by Issac Nathan. A major literary figure in the Romantic Movement and a favorite on the Regency’s social scene, Byron and (arguably) his most famous poem, “She Walks in Beauty,” are both lauded and mocked in seasons one and two of Bridgerton. The series presents a good opportunity for discussing Byron’s literary reception, the influence of his poetry during this period, and why the show represents him this way.
A page from John Ashton’s Social England Under the Regency. The illustration reads “Fashionistas of 1816 taking the air in Hyde Park.”
Social England Under the Regency
John Ashton
DA 533.A83 1890
Walpole Collection
Ashton’s 1890 text provides insight into the political, cultural and historical events that impacted English society during the Regency era while citing historical newspapers and primary documents of the period. It also offers detailed explanations of the world of regency manners, social customs and fashion for both the upper and lower classes. As with many online sources that educate people about the references within Bridgerton, the text can be used to create digital projects that contextualize and historicize Regency customs represented in the show.