The McConnell Mansion Historic House Museum has a new exhibit on display that highlights some of the stranger Victorian hobbies from the late 1800s. “Those Wacky Victorians” discusses a few of the societal changes that occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria and investigates why certain hobbies caught on — particularly ones that seem a little off to us today. The growth of the middle class, rising literacy, questioning established religious doctrine and the end of the industrial revolution were all factors that played a part in how the white upper and middle classes spent their free time.
Questions about spirit realms, a fascination with the natural world, focusing on the exotic and ideas about technological progress were all results of these social changes that manifested in hobbies like hosting séances, art from human hair, collecting ferns and taxidermy, attending freak shows, tying large fishing lures with exotic feathers, and buying electric belts. This exhibit utilizes items from the Latah County Historical Society collection as well as loans from the University of Idaho William F. Barr Entomological Museum, University of Idaho Stillinger Herbarium, Washington State University Charles R.
Conner Museum and the Clearwater Fly Casters to help tell this story. From fashion to home decor to social practices, the Victorians shaped some of our modern perceptions of the world around us. Their upper-class, colonial worldview is prevalent in the way we explore these h.