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| 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 |
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| 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 |
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
FACTS
about this decade.
|
understanding
and appreciation for the culture and history of the 1900-1909 period in American
history. In a very small way, this is a bibliographic essay. Though it
is impossible to take you through the entire decade, we have attempted to find
notable areas of interest and to select information that is still dear today,
for example books we love - movies we watch - songs we sing - events we find
interesting - people we admire. We
want students to understand the world they live in today is connected to the
happenings of the past.To see the whole picture, we encourage users to browse all the way through this page and the other decades of the 20th century and then visit the suggested links for more information on the decade. As you can see, the best way to immerse oneself in a topic is to use both Internet and the library. Some information is best viewed or read in books. This is where the real depth of information can be found. Then there is information that will be found only on the Internet. If you can add a valuable site or information to this page, we invite you to write.
Thanks
for the visit. ENJOY!
The early twentieth century marked an era of beginnings and endings. Americans had yet to make their mark on the art scene. Many American artists went to Europe to paint. Realism and Impressionism artists of this period included Eakins, Prendergast, and the famous portraitist Sargent [self-portrait to the left]. Painters like Winslow Homer, Charles Russell, and Frederic Remington painted America's life and landscape.
Early modernists included Max Weber and Arthur Dove. The Ash Can School or Gritty City Art (urban realism) made its way onto the scene in works like George Luks "Hester Street", John Sloan's "The Wake of the Ferry", Edward Hopper's "The El Station," and George Bellows' "Penn Station". Charles Dana Gibson designed the Gibson Girls and these were published in McCall's and Ladies Home Journal. Many of these pictures were framed and hung in homes throughout the country. George Eastman developed the lightweight, easy to use Kodak box and Alfred Stieglitz became the most renowned photographer of the period.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed his beautiful low and straight lined homes. Pennsylvania Station and the Biltmore Estate and Vanderbilt 50-room dwelling were designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead, and White in New York. This decade marked the ending of Art Nouveau (1851 - 1914) and Modern Architecture (check out Craftsman style) . Americans began to recognize their past. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the president to declare national monuments to be historic landmarks. New and popular Arts and Crafts Movementwas created and gained enormous success during this decade. Late in the decade, people could buy homes from Sears Catalog of Modern Homes .
Books
Library of Congress browsing areas are:
N - NX, this area includes
all forms of art and art history.
| REF N6504.N67 1995 | North American Women Artists | Biographical information - entries up to 1 page in length. | N6505.H64 1997 | American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America | Excellent historic look at arts and artists. Many illustrations. | REF NF1390.P53 | The Dictionary of 20th Century Design | Brief entries on design and designers. | NA 680.F72 1983 | Modern Architecture 1885-1919 | By decade, world architecture. Photos, biographies of architecture. |
Web Sites
During this decade newspapers changed to the four-column, tabloid style paper
in 1900. Two newspaper magnates, William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer, turned producing newspapers into a war when they began adding
special sections including sports and multiple
frame cartoon strips. The Christian
Science Monitor was founded in 1908.
Many of the novelists produced 'happiness novels' because the women were the greater readers of fiction. Best selling authors produced many fine books we still enjoy; L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful World of Oz, Mary Johnson's To Have and To Hold, Jack London's Call of the Wild, Alice Hegan Rice's Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, and Owen Wister's The Virginian. Willa Cather, [Pictured at left] Zane Grey, William Dean Howells, and Carl Sandberg were publishing. As in other decades, books reflected the times in which people lived. Notable books covered topics like big business, urban problems, racism, women's issues and worker's problems.
Library of Congress
browsing areas include:
PS - American Literature
Z - books and libraries
|
Books
That Define the Time
|
Books Covering the Period
REF 1003.2.C66 1993 American Literacy 4-6 page essays on 50 books that defineAmerican culture.
REF Z1219.C96 1905 (annual) Book Review Digest Indexes and abstracts book reviews. Use it to locate books written
during the period and their reviews
Links
Philanthropists like Rockefeller, Phelps-Stokes, and others encouraged the education of Afro-Americans, but the South and part of the North continued the practice of racial segregation in education. Mary McLeod Bethune, Educator opened the first Negro Girls School.
Books
Library of Congress browsing areas are:
LA - LB, this area
includes books about education. Use the catalog for further readings.
LA216.C73 1990
American Education : The Metropolitan Experience 1876-1980
LA216.C73 1990 American Education : The Metropolitan Experience 1876-1980
REF E173.A793 Annals of America
REF E174.D52 Dictionary of American History
E187.97.B34H35 1989 Mary McLeod Bethune
LA11.L8 1972 Our Western Educational Heritage
REF E169.1.P19 1991 Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies and Manias
E 169.1.R7755 1964 Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America
E169.1.S9733 1984 Culture as History : The Transformation of American Society in the Twentieth Century
and
padded. The lightweight, cotton knit shirt became popular for beach
and sports wear. Women wore the high, straight-front corset with
long hips making the waist as small as possible. Garders came in during
this decade. The skirt grew shorter to accommodate stepping onto the new
automobiles and trolley. The popular hobble skirt measured a yard around, necessitating
a knee-high slit at the side to make walking possible. The high
buttoned shoe lasted during this decade. Bobbed
hair made its appearance by the end of this decade. Hats were large.
People were very clothes conscious and clothes were 'costumy'.
All in all, a great decade to shop! And, these styles
led to those of the 1920s.Costumes / Fashion
REF GT610.M46 1990 Men's Fashion Illustrations from the Turn of the Century
GT605.W5 1963 Five Centuries of American Costume
GT605.H35 1992 Common Threads: A Parade of American Clothing
HISTORIC EVENTS AND TECHNOLOGY
Many
changes during this time were brought about through advances
in technology. The turn of the century decade began one of transition
and progress and is considered the first decade of materialism and consumerism.
The Industrial age was in full swing, mass production made prices fall to all
time lows. Sears Roebuck
and Montgomery Ward catalogs
were read more than any book other than the bible. Teddy
Bears became a fad started from a cartoon of a bear with Teddy
Roosevelt (Letter's to his Children) (1902) and were mass produced
in 1905.
During this decade, safety
in food processing and the environment became issues and laws were enacted.
There were hundreds of job openings for a typewriter
secretary. Radio
broadcasts and transportation, especially automobiles, ships, and trains,
changed the way people viewed their world.
During this decade the Wright Brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, the first cross country auto trip took 52 days (love this site). During this decade the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St. Louis and people flocked to see it. Cadillac (the best link I found is in German - ja!) was founded and Henry Ford provided the first affordable car ($700-900). The Sunday drive became a national pastime. The Jim Crow laws segregated national baseball during this decade and Negro baseball teams remained until the early 60s..
The Presidents were McKinley, [assassinated in 1901] Roosevelt, and Taft.
BOOKS
Library
of Congress browsing areas :
E -F - U.S. History
[ Remember, history covers all areas of the library.]
Links
Biography Index
| Biography of over 15,000 famous persons. Genealogy
Guide | Helpful in locating past people, places and events.
Information Please
Biographies | Search by keyword.
BOOKS
REF N7593,C93 Dictionary of American Portraits
REF E176.D563 Dictionary of American Biography
REF E176.W64 1897-1942 v.1 Who Was Who in America
s
sold over a million copies. Song
pluggers carried pianos on their horse-drawn carts and performed for
crowds who bought this music from these vendors or dime stores.
Barbershop
Quartets harmonized on Saturday nights. Sweet
Adeline was one of the most popular songs of the decade.
Nickelodeon
was new hottest rage beginning in 1905. The films were often naughty
and men frequented these penny
arcades. Nickel arcades came along soon where you paid a nickel to
enjoy a short moving picture projected onto a screen. These were enormously
popular. There were 10,000 in operation within 3 years.
Music reflected the events changing in the world outside. In My Merry Oldsmobile, Come Josephine in My Flying Machine, and Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis announced the changes brought about by automobiles and airplanes. Songs like Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home and The Darktown Strutters Ball echoed the racial prejudices of the period.
During this decade, radios brought music to the country and in 1903, the hand-cranked victrola went on the market and many Americans listened to recordings of opera stars. Broadway musicals flourished. Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan opened on Broadway. The Ziegfeld Follies (later, but still Ziegfeld) began in 1907. The waltz was replaced with ballroom dancing (Take time to watch the finale, too). And my favorite, the beer songs like Under the Anheuser Bush. Many memorable Vaudeville songs were performed at this time, including She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage . By the 1900s, Scott Joplin (Maple Leaf Rag) had made ragtime popular by bringing it out of the red-light district onto the legitimate stage. AND, don't forget the silent films.
BOOKS
Library of Congress browse area:
M - Instrumental and vocal
music ML-
Literature of Music
| A Chronicle of American Music 1700-1995 | Arranged by year, historical highlights, world cultural highlights, American art and literature, music - commercial and cultural. | |
| REF ML197.S634 1994 | Music Since 1900 | Arranged by day, includes important premiers and musical events. |
| REF ML128.S37L4 1984 | The Great American Song Thesaurus | Arranged by year, summary of world and musical events, list of important songs. |
| REF ML390.S983 1986 | Show Tunes 1905-1985 | Features important composers. Lists their shows and the published music for each show. |
LINKS
American
Popular Music 1900-1950 | A look at the music and the
times.
Lyrics Database
| 61,000 song lyrics. Search by keyword.
History
of Ball Room Dancing | An essay on the topic -
with photographs.
Mudcat
Song Files | Wonderful collection of lyrics, searchable by
keyword, etc.
Brief Timeline
of American Literature, Music, and Movies 1900-1909 | Tie it together.
Froggies' Novelty Song Files | First third of the century - songs & lyrics.
BOOKS
| REF PN2189.L85 1983 | Twentieth Century Theatre | A theater buff's bible. This book lists and describes by year premiers, productions, revivals, events, births/death/debuts in both America and Great Britain. |
| REF PN1993.5.U6H55 | The Transformation of Cinema | Volumes 1 and 2 are needed to cover this decade. A great source for information about early cinema. Photographs. |
| REF ML390.S983 1986 | Show Tunes: 1905-1985 | Limited because it only covers only Jerome Kerns and Irving Berlin from this era. Worth a look for these two - because it lists plays, performances, theater information, and published songs. |
| The list below represents a sampling of what was happening in the cinema industry. New ground was broken with each new film. Books are the best means of learning more on this topic or see the films themselves: Some listed below.. | |
| YEAR | FILM TITLE - OR EVENT |
| 1903 |
|
| 1905 | Nickelodeon (nickel theater) opens in Pittsburgh. |
| 1908 | National Board of Censorship is formed to establish uniform guidelines for state and local censors. |
| 1909 | Motion Picture Patents Company pools patents on motion picture equipment and attempts to freeze out competitors. |
| 1904 | Jerome Kern had over 50 shows being performed, including The Great White Way, Fascinating Flora, The Orchid, and The Earl and the Girl starring Eddie Foy. |
| - 1909 | Irving Berlin - Shows included The Boys and Betty, The Girl and the Whiz, The Jolly Bachelors, Ziegfeld Follies. |
This Decades website designed, written, and maintained by Peggy Whitley
