>I am looking for some suggestions to pass along to a graduate student
>who is interested in superstition in Victorian England. I suppose
>that this would involve the response of the churches, the medical
>profession, and educated people in general to aspects of popular
>religion and culture. Possibly nineteenth-century folklorists did
>relevant research on contemporary populations. I have difficulty in
>identifying secondary and primary sources that focus on Victorian
>superstition.
I'm long out of this field, but remember that *Notes & Queries* was a good
primary source for what your student has in mind. There were also--again as I
recall--all sorts of local *Notes & Queries* series' as well. In addition, J.
Obelkevich, *Religion & Rural Society...,* an old standard but still really
good, would be helpful. Also an essay by John Rule, "Methodism, Popular
Beliefs and Village Culture in Cornwall, 1800-50," in R. D. Storch (ed.)
*Popular Culture & Custom in 19th C. England* (1982). Another book by Bob
Bushaway, *By Rite...*, might be helpful. Sorry I don't have places of
publication and dates for some of these; I'm writing from home. But they're not
obscure and should be easily tracked down.
*Notes and Queries* should be used with caution, being accounts of popular
beliefs or recollections of things that went on in the village by clergymen and
other educated people. Seen often as amusing relics. Evidence to be
handled with care, but there's a lot of it.
Robert D. Storch
University of Wisconsin Centers