I went to the State Library of Victoria this morning to start my new summer writing regime. That is, I am actually researching the Regency, instead of just assuming other romance writers have it right.
It was super fun. I looked at a book of architectural drawings from the Regency – finally! A real idea of how rooms were laid out! I also looked at a design book with material swatches, lace designs, pottery etc.
But by far the most useful information I got was from the librarian, and this is it:
This website archives the whole internet – past and present. (The past-sites search engine is called The Wayback Machine. How cool is that!) It has all google books uploaded as well as a huge number on top of that and an open digital library.
Basically, anything that has ever been published and is now out of copyright can be found there.
Check it out.
And in the spirit of research, here’s the State Library in 1861:
