Markets were some of the liveliest places in nineteenth-century London. Being a social space for makers, buyers, and sellers, nineteenth-century markets shaped the lives and homes of their participants. In both public spaces like markets and private spaces like homes, baskets featured as useful tools for storage, commerce, and craft. Join me as I venture into London’s market scene, taking inspiration from an item from Dalnavert’s collection and exploring nineteenth-century literature to unpack the histories that markets and baskets contain.

The New Woman - capital N, capital W- was a Victorian Era concept that originated in the 1890s. Women were realizing that they were more than simply to remain in the household, and help to take care of the children. While this is all well and good, some women wanted to do more, oftentimes, this meant that she wanted to work, and - to the shock of society - remain unmarried.