ABSTRACT

This chapter explores alternative ways of identifying anonymous contributors to the Victorian periodical press and the lives and careers of nameless "back-room" workers. It builds on the idea that traditional conceptualizations of the periodical as a print genre have left with particular perceptions of what constitutes the "front" and "back stage" of the industry. Digital genealogy databases bring together and facilitate access to sources so vast and varied that searching them all in their original paper or microfilm form is virtually impossible unless you know exactly what to look for and where to look for it. If male sub-editors such as Hume managed to advance their careers sufficiently to be given death notices in the press, newsboys remained a great anonymous force undergirding the Victorian periodical industry. Like newsboys, many of the women in the periodical industry remained under the radar throughout their professional lives.