This section allows you to discover the impact of more global issues on the establishment and success of the Maynard's enterprise, while at the same time, recognizing how important their establishment was for the colony and its emergence as a successful independent city in the years to come.

The historical contexts of this site are important as this site is intended to be microhistory. These contexts link the Maynard's Photographic Gallery, its proprietors, and Victoria to the more global themes of Victoria in the Victorian era and widespread international interest in photography. Linking these aspects makes the significance of the Maynard's business more salient and places the site in the microhistorical genre versus local history, or biography.