# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Experts Next Door: Write, Fold, Seal: Letter Writing in the Victorian Age with Catherine Golden
- **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 23 Jan, 2026 at 12:00 am
- **Event Description**: Long before e-mail, Facebook, and Instagram, letter writing was the only way to communicate. The recipient, not the sender, had to pay to receive a letter at the time of delivery. Postage rates in early Victorian Britain were so high that many people dreaded the postman’s knock. But all that changed in 1840 with the Penny Post. Letter writing—no longer a privilege for the wealthy—became an affordable way to connect with family, friends, and professional associates. In this Zoom presentation, we will journey to Victorian England to learn about the first adhesive postage stamp, called the Penny Black, and a method for prepayment, which quickly became the model for other nations including the United States. We will consider, too, how the Penny Post promoted many forms of anticipated as well as unsolicited missives that still plague us today. For the second part of this presentation, we will examine Victorian artifacts that accompanied letter writing in the Victorian age. I will demonstrate writing with nibbed pens and ink on a Victorian writing desk, cross-writing, letter folding, sealing, addressing a letter, and affixing a postage stamp. If they wish, audience members can learn to fold a letter along with me.
Catherine J. Golden is professor of English and Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters (2017-22) at Skidmore College. She is author of Serials to Graphic Novels: The Evolution of the Victorian Illustrated Book (2017), Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing (2009), and Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction (2003). She is editor or coeditor of five additional books on topics ranging from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Victorian illustration, literature, and culture. Golden is a Pedagogy Consultant for COVE (Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education) and an Editorial Advisory Board member and regular contributor to Illustration Magazine, a British arts journal.

Your support powers everything we do. All donations are welcome, and enable us to continue offering the highest quality programming. For this event, there is a suggested donation of $5.

Register at https://brooksidemuseum.networkforgood.com/events/94952-experts-next-door-write-fold-seal-letter-writing-in-the-victorian-age-with-catherine-golden
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/ballston-spa-new-york/experts-next-door-write-fold-seal-letter-writing-in-the-victorian-age-with-catherine-golden/200029443339829
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, nonprofit, it
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 6

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: https://brooksidemuseum.networkforgood.com/events/94952-experts-next-door-write-fold-seal-letter-writing-in-the-victorian-age-with-catherine-golden?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=ballston+spa%2C+new+york-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Ballston Spa, New York
- **location**: Online event
- **full address**: Online event, 6 Charlton St, Ballston Spa, NY 12020-1707, United States, Ballston Spa, New York

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Saratoga County History Center (https://allevents.in/org/saratoga-county-history-center/20853908)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/3cd7c7faf80ca1b92573374c75bc436457811197d248d341ef661961e02f1387-rimg-w1200-h600-dcf2f1f0-gmir?v=1768784222
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/b8be99951bb4c3c057732aa178a67252e0117c05bcb0ccd80e3241303dc2251a-rimg-w300-h300-dcf3f2f1-gmir?v=1768784222

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Fri, 23 Jan, 2026 at 12:00 am
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Online event, 6 Charlton St, Ballston Spa, NY 12020-1707, United States, Ballston Spa, New York
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Saratoga County History Center
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, literary-art, nonprofit, it
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Experts Next Door: Write, Fold, Seal: Letter Writing in the Victorian Age with Catherine Golden ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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