Woman's mission. Private view: Victorian letters as source material

Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) was a period of intensive industrialization, urbanization, and social change. Whereas in previous centuries generations had stayed in the same communities and remained close to the parental home, in the 19th century there was considerable mobility within the population. Within the span of two generations, a family might move from the country to the city, then to the suburbs.

For the new members of industrialized middle classes, social identity was created around sets of values which marked them out as separate and different from the aristocracy above them and the working classes below them. Broadly speaking, middle-class identity was built on a platform of moral respectability and domesticity.

Women played a central role in all this, and the ideal of femininity was encapsulated in the idea of a 'woman's mission', which was that of playing a model mother, wife and daughter. Women were also seen as moral and spiritual guardians - as Samuel Smiles declared in Self-Help, 'The nation comes from the nursery.' In other words, the moral health of the nation and its empire depended on the moral purity of its women.

When historians use letters to the press as source material, we are still dealing with published historical sources and with views formulated with the express purpose of reaching a wide public. But if we are trying to reconstruct the everyday lives of men and women in the past, we also need to go beyond the world of public debate and published sources and rediscover those private documents - letters or diaries - written by and for ordinary people, for no higher purpose than simply 'keeping in touch'.

The Amelia Roper letters come from a previously unpublished archive held at the Museum of London. They were written between 1840 and 1858 and offer a valuable insight into the everyday lives of two Victorian women. The pages of the letters are folded and re-folded into tiny squares and are frequently cross-written - with the neat handwriting traversing the pages first horizontally, then vertically, creating a grid of news and narration.

The letters were written by a young woman called Amelia Roper, to her close friend, Martha Busher. Roper lived in Walthamstow, a residential, suburban area to the north-east of London. Her friend lived south of London in Sevenoaks, Kent, later moving to Kenilworth in Warwickshire.

There was nothing special about these women, they simply represent two ordinary existences, lived in the suburbs and cities of England in the middle of the 19th century. Some of the letters are transcribed by the Museum, others are not, and a number are barely legible. Taken together, they offer compelling snatches of the lives of ordinary men and women of their time, and present a useful, alternative perspective on social and emotional life to that offered in official sources.

The letters are a fascinating blend of formalized greetings and impatient transmission of gossip. They include apologies and upbraiding for lapses in writing, and hastily added postscripts, adding last-minute thoughts. These are texts written for the eyes of a friend and preserved for the sake of memory. Contents are determined by the priorities of one young woman's life, rather than by the formalities of official, public discourse.

21. Which of the following statements are true/false according to the text? Correct the false sentences:

22. Find in the text English equivalents for the following:

23. Translate into Russian:

24. Find in the text the antonyms for the following words:

25. Fill in the gaps with the proper words and phrases:

1. Within the span of two generations, a family might move from the country to the city, then to the ______

2. The ideal of femininity was encapsulated in the idea of a 'woman's mission', which was that of playing a model ______.

3. We also need to go beyond the world of public debate and published sources and rediscover those private documents - letters or diaries - written by ______.

4. The Amelia Roper letters come from a previously unpublished archive held at the ______.

5. The letters offer a valuable ______ into the everyday lives of two Victorian women.

6. Taken together, they offer compelling snatches of the lives of ______ of their time.

7. The letters are a ______ of formalized greetings and impatient transmission of gossip.

8. These are texts written for the eyes of ______ and preserved for the sake of memory.

26. Fill in the prepositions:

1. to stay ______ the same communities

2. mobility ______ the population

3. move ______ the country to the city

4. to be built ______ a platform of

5. to play a central role ______ all this

6. purpose ______ reaching a wide public

7. to be held ______ the Museum

8. ______ the middle of the 19th century

9. a perspective ______ social and emotional life

10. preserved ______ the sake of memory