The Bodleian Libraries working in partnership with The Royal Archives and information company ProQuest have digitised Queen Victoria's Journals. The private records of the monarch are now available for global open access until 30 June 2012.
The journals cover the period from Queen Victoria's childhood days to her accession to the throne, marriage to Prince Albert, and later her Golden and Diamond Jubilees. Consisting of 141 volumes, the material exists in four different versions:
- Queen Victoria's handwriting (1 August 1832 - 1 January 1837)
- Lord Esther's typescripts (1 August 1832 - 16 February 1840)
- Princess Beatrices copies (1 January 1937 - 13 January 1901)
- Queen Victoria's drafts (2 September 1843 - 10 December 1855)
You can either search the journals by date, keyword, place of writing or version, or browse the collection by date and version. A very attractive discovery tool is the Timeline. Dragging the scrollbar allows you to explore specific events in Victoria's life and times. These provide access points to individual journal entries.
Users in New Zealand can access the website until 30 June 2012. Thereafter, a specialised version for libraries will become available from ProQuest.