Years
1857
1872
1887
1902
1858
1873
1888
1903
1859
1874
1889
1904
1860
1875
1890
1905
1861
1876
1891
1906
1862
1877
1892
1907
1863
1878
1893
1908
1864
1879
1894
1909
1865
1880
1895
1910
1866
1881
1896
1911
1867
1882
1897
1912
1868
1883
1898
1913
1869
1884
1899
1914
1870
1885
1900
1915
1871
1886
1901
1916
This site web site contains articles extracted from Harper's Weekly Magazine. The material selected includes editorial, political and social commentary, correspondent reports of contemporary events, satire and even an occasional joke. The common theme is that the subject is in some way related to Italy.
The information is presented in its "raw" form as it would have been read by Harper's subscribers. The material stands on its own merits and there is no attempt to organize or provide commentary. Keep in mind that before 1872 there was no trans-Atlantic cable and dispatches from Europe could take 3 to 6 weeks to arrive on American shores. Beginning in the early 1850's Europeans started to develop a telegraph network connecting capital cities, which the contemporaneous European newspapers used. The early American newspapers did not have the infrastructure of foreign correspondents and publications, like Harper's, frequently used European newspapers as sources of their information.
Reproducing the engravings in Harper's has been difficult, since, for the most part, I am working from a microfilm copy of the journal. Illustrations such as "Garibaldi's Night Landing in Calabria", which are dark to begin with, are unrecognizable on the film copy. The illustration included often had to be touched up to remove scratches in the film and other imperfections. Picture captions have been redone to make them legible on computer screens.
Use any of the material on this site freely, it's old enough to be copyright free. Let me know if you find any of this material useful.
Head Extractor: Rose Albrizio
Contributions of files gratefully accepted.
Comments and Questions - mailto:ralbrizio@aol.com