A lecture by Trinity’s Dr. Sarah Bilston and a Victorian tea in the Phelps Tavern Tea Room complete with costumed Simsbury characters from this era – just what you need to enjoy and understand the new PBS series, Victoria!

Queen Victoria came to the throne as an eighteen-year-old girl in 1837. By the time she died, in 1901, the nation she ruled had changed beyond recognition. The pace of change was extraordinary: to people living at the time, the process of becoming a modern, industrial, urban nation was dizzying. Dr. Bilston’s talk will reflect on the beginnings of industrial modernity — its problems, it possibilities, its impact. She will also discuss Victoria, the woman at the center of it all.

Sarah Bilston was born in England and educated at University College London and Somerville College, Oxford. She is the author of 2 books on the Victorian era and 2 novels. Dr. Bilston is an Associate Professor of English Literature at Trinity College in Hartford, where she specializes in the literature of the British Victorian era.

This program, co-sponsored by the Simsbury Public Library and Simsbury Historical Society will be held at the Historical Society located at 10 Phelps Lane at the Ellsworth Visitors’ Center and split into 2 groups.

Each group will attend Dr. Bilston’s lecture as well as a tea. The cost is $15 per person.

You may call for reservations using a credit card at 860-658-2500 (Thursday, Friday or Saturday between 12:00 and 4:00 pm only) or you may mail a check for $15 made out to the Simsbury Historical Society to Simsbury Historical Society, P.O. Box 2, Simsbury, CT 06070.

Please include your name, address, telephone and email (if you have one). Reservations and prepayment through the Simsbury Historical Society are required. Please note that the Phelps Tavern is not wheelchair accessible.

Snow date Sunday, January 29