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Winter, 2008
American Studies 217/History 217
Tues. – Thurs., 10:10 – 11:55AM, Leighton 303
e-mail: , ext. 4208, Leighton 206
Office hours, Tues. & Thurs., 3:15 to 4:15 & by appointment
Ragtime, Football, and the Wild West: the United States in the 1890s
The written work in this course will consist of four short papers (two pages in length, 15% each). In addition, each student will work in groups of two to research and provide background about the debates among historians on that topic. The students will then start the discussion of that topic and hand in a two page review of the literature on that topic(20%). Finally, this class is based on discussion of the readings assigned for each class. Class attendance is therefore required. Three unexcused absences from class will automatically reduce your grade by one letter grade. Class participation counts 20%. There is no final exam. Books marked with an asterisk (*) should be purchased at the bookstore. The essays and short stories, as noted in the readings, are available on electronic reserve in the library. Papers are due at the start of the Thursday class in which they are due.
Late papers are not accepted. If you will be unable to complete an assignment on time for medical or other reasons beyond your control, it is your responsibility to notify me of the problem before the paper is due.
Papers should have a cover sheet with your name and the paper title. They should be printed, double-spaced, back to back. They must also use footnotes. The Department requires that you use the format described in Chapter 16 in the 15th edition of "The Chicago Manual of Style." It is now online through the library webpage: If you need examples of how to cite different kinds of sources please use the section about “The Mechanics of Citation” in the History Department website under “Study Aids.”
I. The Crisis of Values in the 1890's: The End of the Frontier & the New Sport of Football
This course explores the interconnections between the myths, institutions, and values in the 1890's. It is designed to allow you to develop your own interpretation of the shift in values within American Culture at the turn of the century. We begin by juxtaposing the controversy over football and the debate over Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier thesis in 1893. Both controversies reflect the sense of crisis that was widely felt during the period and raise implicitly the question of whether the older values of individualism, self-reliance, and honor would be able to survive in the new world of industrial organization.
Classes
Thurs., Jan. 3, Introduction to the Course: Studying American Culture: the 1890s
Tues., Jan. 8, The debates about football & the closing of the frontier
Questions to keep in mind: What is Turner’s view of the “frontier experience” and why does he see the closing of the frontier as the end of a significant phase in American History? What personal values do Camp and Richards stress? What ideals of behavior and conduct do they admire? What underlying assumptions do both authors make? What are they most worried about? What do the articles tell us about the popular social values in the 1890s? How might Camp and Richards' concerns be compared to the arguments in Frederick Jackson Turner's essay about the closing of the American frontier?
Read:
Walter Camp, The Current Criticism of Foot-ball, and Walter Camp's Book of College Sports
Walter Camp and Lorin F. Deland, Football (1896)
Eugene Lamb Richards, The Football Situation, The Popular Science Monthly, 45 (October 1894), 721-33.
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Problem of the West
*Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, Introduction & Chapters. 2 & 9.
Thurs. Jan. 10, The Wild West and the Cowboy
Questions to think about: Why does Wister admire the cowboy? What values does he ascribe to Specimen Jones? Are the values attributed to the cowboy by Wister similar to or different from the values that Walter Camp attributes to football players? What was the actual experience of cowboys like?
Read:Owen Wister, Specimen Jones (1894)
Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Frontier Thesis” (1893). *Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, Chapter 5.
II. The Battleground Between Old and New Values
The 1890s was a decade that served as a battle-ground between the generation that wanted to preserve the older inherited values of individualism, success, domesticity, and Genteel Culture and the newer generation who rejected those ideals. We have already looked at the cluster of values associated with the American West (the frontier myth). Now we turn to the debates that raged over the proper interpretation of religion, nature, the home, the role of women, literary standards, and the definition of success.
Tues. Jan. 15, Victorianism (slides) and Ragtime
Read: * Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age,Chapters 3& 4.
Daniel Walker Howe, "American Victorianism as a Culture," American Quarterly, xxvii-5 (Dec., 1975) 507-532. (Reserve)
Thurs., Jan. 17, (First PAPER DUE, 2 double-spaced typed pages). One way to understand the 1890s is to focus on attitudes toward the individual’s response to the challenges of their environment. Write an essay in which you compare the lead character in Mary Wilkens Freeman's “Louisa,” Kate Chopin’s “A Repectable Woman” and Owen Wister’s Specimen Jones. Explain how the similarities and differences in these three short stories might be read as a commentary on the debate over the “new woman.” Papers are due at the start of the class. Late papers are not accepted.
Read
O. Henry, The Trimmed Lamp
George Ade, The Fable of the Good Fairy with the Lorgnette, and Why She Got It Good (1889).
Frank Norris, The 'Fast' Girl (1896).
Kate Chopin, A Respectable Woman (1894).
Mary Wilkins Freeman, Louisa (1891)
Edith Wharton, A Journey
III. The Attack on the Genteel Tradition
The attack on the older ideals of individualism, success, and domesticity, as we have seen, took many forms. But it reached a new intensity in the 1890's as the problems of the cities, together with labor and farm unrest, gave people a new awareness of the misery in which part of the population lived. This awareness, which was heightened by the newspaper and magazine coverage of the period, led to a search for new ideals and values. We now turn to the recognition of the social problems and the search for new standards for literature, politics, and art.
- Recognition
Classes
Tues, Jan. 22, The Perception of Poverty and Working-Class Americans(slides)
Read: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, (Chapter 3) (Reserve)
Stephen Crane, Men in the Storm (1894), Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, pp. 81-96 & 225-235. Annie M. MacLean, Two Weeks in Department Stores, Casper W. Whitney, The Evolution of the Country Club
Thurs, Jan. 24–Christianity and the Perception of Poverty.
Questions: What is the Social Gospel? What was the Salvation Army? Is there a common element in Crane and Sheldon's attitude toward poverty?
Read
William James, Is Life Worth Living? (1895).
Charles M. Sheldon, In His Steps (1897).
*Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age Chapter 8.
B. Radical Alternatives: Realism and Social Action
Classes
Tues., Jan. 29, Realism & the American Literary Tradition in the 1890's.
Read: Clarence Darrow, Realism in Literature and Art,Hamlin Garland, Mr. Howell's Latest Novels, Productive Conditions of American Literature, and Homestead and Its Perilous Trades.
Thurs., Jan. 31, Utopianism & the Vision of the Apocalypse.
Read:*Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Read through Chapt. 23).
Questions to keep in mind: In what ways was the new approach of the "realists" in literature related to the social and intellectual ideals of the times? In what way does Twain's Connecticut Yankee share the outlook of the realists? What kinds of answers did the writers offer to the social problems of the period?
Tues., Feb. 5( SECOND PAPER DUE, 2 double-spaced typed pages) Write an essay in which you discuss the ways in which his book, A Connecticut Yankee, might be viewed as a critique of American society in the 1890s. Focus on two or three examples in the book to prove your point.
Read:
*Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (finish). *Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, Chapter 7.
IV. THE SEARCH FOR NEW STANDARDS
Reacting to the new awareness of social misery, popular spokesmen began to search for new answers. Critics like the populists sought to fuse the older standards of Christian ethics with a degree of control over businesses and the economy. Others simply sought refuge in nostalgic memories. But the event that most captured the popular imagination was the 1893 World's Fair, the famous WhiteCity in Chicago.
Classes
Thurs., Feb. 7, TheWorld's Fair and the Vision of Change.
Read: Anna B. Dodd, The Republic of the Future; John Higham, "The Reorientation of American Culture in the 1890's." (Reserve)
Theodore Roosevelt, The Manly Virtues and Practical Politics (1984). William Graham Sumner, The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over, Forum, (March, 1894).
John Jay Chapman, Society (1898). *Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, 6.
Tues., Feb. 12, Indians & Blacks in the 1890's.
Read: Ida Wells, A Red Record
Booker T. Washington, The Future of the American Negro and Monroe Trotter, editorial, Boston Guardian, December 20, 1902, both in Francis L. Broderick and August Meier, eds., Negro Protest Thought in the Twentieth Century (Reserve).Rufus F. Zogbaum, Life at an Indian Agency, Harper's
Thurs. Feb. 14, Populism
Questions to keep in mind while doing the reading: As the debate raged about whether it was possible to reform society, individuals suggested a variety of arguments pro and con. Identify the different positions and the assumptions behind each argument.
Read
Henry Vincent, Start of the Commonweal, Populist Party Platform (1892).
William JenningsBryan, Cross of Gold Speech (1896).
Finley Peter Dunne, On a Populist Convention
* Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, pp. 235-251.
Classes
Tues., Feb. 19, Capitalism and the Perception of Reform
Read: Walter Wyckoff, The Workers and
Richard T. Ely, Pullman: A Social Study in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXX (February 1885), 452-466.
Thurs., Feb. 21, Architecture and the Vision of Reform
Questions to keep in mind: How do Frank Lloyd Wright and Gustave Stickley justify their architectural designs? In what ways are the arguments used typical of the 1890's? What was the impact of the World's Fair on architectural design and reform social thought?
Read:
Don Gifford, The Literature of Architecture, 484-527 (Reserve).
Gannett-Wright, House Beautiful (Reserve).
William Dean Howells, Letters of An Altrurian Traveller (sic), "The Cosmopolitan Magazine, XVI (December 1893), 218-233.
Gustave Stickley, Craftsmen Homes (Reserve).
V. ASSIMILATION AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN THE 1890'S
In the reading so far, historians such as John Higham have provided interpretations of the tensions that existed during the 1890's. We now look at the issues of ethnic identity and how they were perceived.
Classes
Tues., Feb. 26, Immigration, Social Class, and Family
Read: *Abraham Cahan, Yekl, Chapters 1- 5.
Thurs., Feb. 28, Immigration and Popular Culture(THIRD PAPER DUE, 2 double-spaced typed pages)
Write an essay in which you analyze Cahan's views of assimilation and immigrant identity in the 1890's. What is Jake’s perception of how to become American? In what ways is the book a commentary on that vision?
Read: *Abraham Cahan, Yekl, Chapters 6-10.
VI. THE RESOLUTION OF ANXIETY: WAR
The Spanish-American War was in many respects an anomaly, a war that led to imperialistic expansion abroad that American business did not want, a war spurred on by correspondents of the yellow press who later regretted their actions, and a war which led unexpectedly to the recognition of America as a World Power. Like all American wars, it served to raise to consciousness values and ideals that were often overlooked in everyday affairs.
Classes
Tues., March 4, The Spanish-American War
Read:. Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life, (1899); Theodore Roosevelt, Raising the Regiment (1899); Richard Harding Davis, The Death of Rodriguez
Stephen Crane, War Memories (December, 1899) *Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, Chapter 11, Kristin Hoganson, Fighting for Manhood, pp. 1-15, 200-208 (Reserve)
Thurs., March 6, The Impact of War and Violence on American Society
(FINAL PAPER DUE, 2 double-spaced typed pages: Write a two-page essay in which you compare Ambrose Bierce's story, "One of the Missing" to Theodore Dreiser’s “Nigger Jeff.” Explain how we might use these stories to understand the debates over cultural change in the 1890s.
Read
Theodore Dreiser, Nigger Jeff
Ambrose Bierce, One of the Missing
Appendix; Topics for your review of the debates among historians
The Trans-Mississippi West
Cowboys
Ragtime/ Vaudeville
The New Woman
Poverty
The Social Gospel
Realism in literature
Apocalyptic literature
The Worlds Fair of 1893
Lynching
Labor Strikes
Populism
Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Spanish-American War