I have to admit that reality videos may seem an odd thing to put into this sort of a site, but all of the videos I have chosen do relate to the times of the family. All of the shows are BBC reality TV shows produced over the past 10 years. Granted, one has to take what they portray with a grain of salt, but they give us all an idea of what it must have been like for the Halls family in North America and England in the late 19th century. The shows are Victorian Farm, the 1900 House, Turn Back Time - The High Street - Victorians, Victorian Pharmacy, and Edwardian Farm.
Victorian Farm
The show is a series of six one hour shows covering a year in the life of a Victorian farmer. While the North American experience of Samuel, James, and John Halls would not have been identical, they owned their own land for instance, the books that are referred to, the problems they faced, and much of the equipment would have been identical to those portrayed in the series.
The 1900 House
This particular series of shows follows a modern family living for 3 months as a city dwelling family from 1900 would have lived. I find it particularly interesting because my own great great grandfather William Halls, lived in Toronto and was a builder of houses in between about 1885 and 1915, so many of the techniques and items shown in the show would have been things he would have needed to know, and been able to use.
Turn Back Time - The High Street - Victorians
This show follows a group of shopkeepers in a small town over the course of a week as they attempt to sell products that they would have sold as Victorian shopkeepers in a small town. Of the three shows I have on this page, this most likely least resembles the North American experience of the Halls family, if only because it is in England, and not North America. It does however, give us an idea of how truly hard life could be both for the shopkeepers, and for any of the buying public unfortunate enough to run afoul of a truly bad shopkeeper. John Philip Halls was a shopkeeper in Beloit, Wisconsin in the late 1890's, so the experiences would probably be similar to his.
Currently I cannot find this video online. I will put it up when I find it.
Victorian Pharmacy
In many ways a very scary look at what our ancestors had to put up with, even from reputable pharmacists, in the late Victorian era. Throughout the first episode they are constantly comparing and contrasting what was done in late Victorian times with what is done (and known) now. All in all a very interesting show.
Edwardian Farm
Another series about life in rural England featuring Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, and Peter Ginn. While most of the shows I have chosen are set in Victorian times, this one is set in Edwardian times, and more importantly than that, it is set in Devon, at Morwellham Quay. Even though it takes place approximately 50 years after most of the Halls family left Devon, there are little tidbits of information throughout the show. One that is of particular interest to me is a short part in episode 1 where the cast looks at traditional methods of rock carving on Dartmoor when they order a granite feed trough for the sheep.
I would love to be able to link to the videos, but they seldom stay in one place long enough to make the linking worthwhile. Currently both Victorian Farm and Pharmacy can be watched on TV Ontario. Occasionally any of the above can be found on YouTube as well.