Curated OER
History Matters: The National Pastime in the 1920s: The Rise of the Baseball Fan
Read this article from a 1923 issue of Literary Digest that discusses the rise in interest in baseball. The author contends that the attendance at baseball games is a chance for the upper class and working class to mix socially in a way...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Coney Island, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
A Thomas Edison film and an essay about the amusement park experience, a new leisure pastime made possible by urbanization and industrialization.
Digital History
Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture
American popular culture was many-faceted prior to the Civil War. Find out about the explosion of the number of newspapers and magazines, the many kinds of popular entertainment, and even phrenology as entertainment.
Digital History
Digital History: Formation of Modern American Mass Culture
A mass culture developed in America in the 1920s due to several factors. Read about the influence of radio, movies, and spectator sports in the adoption of common speech. Find out about the creativity of the time in literature and music.
Digital History
Digital History: Avant Garde
Synopsis of the huge cultural shifts that occurred in America in the 1920s in art, music, literature, and among intelligentsia.
Library of Congress
Loc: Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work Is Done
An analysis of leisure time activity in the early 20th century.
Library of Congress
Loc: Around the World in 1896
Working in groups, students plan, take, and document a trip around the world in 1896 using World's Transportation Commission. This collection presents documentary evidence concerning the role of technology at the turn of the twentieth...
Digital History
Digital History: The Birth of American Popular Culture
A description of many different forms of popular culture in the first half of the 19th century ranging from sensationalized newspapers to dime novels to pseudoscience. Read about Stephen Foster's music, theatrical productions, and even...
PBS
Pbs: Broadway: The American Musical: Operetta
As part of a larger look at the American musical, this brief look at the popularity of the operetta in the last part of the 19th century discusses why it was so popular with the middle class. Included is a short video that discusses...
Vassar College
Vassar College: 1896: The Popularity of Bicycles
As part of the larger site about the year 1896, this article describes the bicycle craze at the end of the 19th century and includes newspaper articles and cartoons about this fad.
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Robert Rauschenberg: Reinventing Art
Studying the life and work of Robert Rauschenberg, we see a reflection of American culture. Click his name to a full biography and timeline.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Present at the Creation
A compilation of stories from National Public Radio about the creation of new and extraordinary objects, films, and artwork that have shaped and continue to shape American popular culture. Explore everything from the hamburger, to...
Other
Bob Stepno: The Evening Graphic's Tabloid Reality
During the 1920s, newspapers and tabloids began printing graphic stories about murders, true love and true detective cases. This article by journalism student, Bob Stepno, investigates the truth behind the stories found in the "Evening...
Other
Silent Era : People : Actresses
A list of many actresses who were stars in the Silent Era of film. Clicking on a name opens a brief biography with photo of that star.
Other
Nlbpa: Negro Leagues Baseball History
Find out about the history of early Negro baseball beginnings in the late 19th century before reading about the advent of the Negro National League in the 1920s. Baseball was the American pastime for everyone in the 1920s and 1930s.
International Reading Association
Reading Online: Making Meaning With Popular Culture Texts
Research and ideas about using popular culture to engage reluctant learners.
Other
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh: Downtown: Nickelodeon
Along with a black and white picture of a nickelodeon, find a great description of the first one, located in Pittsburgh, and a history of the motion picture. From an article published in 1919.
Other
Aiga: Design Observer
A designer's portal featuring writings, news, and critical essays on graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism.
Other
Coney Island History Project
This site contains so many things you'd like to know about Coney Island, the amusement capital of New York. Click on the topics on the left of the title page to navigate the site.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture, the Comic Book
[Free Registration/Login Required] Using primary source documents students look at Jewish immigration to the United states, popular culture of the time and the birth of the comic book.
Oswego City School District
Regents Prep: Entertainment
Read about the impact of various forms of entertainment on the popular culture of the Jazz Age. The content is brief but informative.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 32: The John Travolta Syndrome
The songs and movies of modern times have had a major influence on fashion. Coincidentally, many of these important fashion-influencing films of recent times had one thing in common: John Travolta. From the white leisure suits ofSaturday...
Curated OER
National Park Service: Reading 2: The Glen Echo Amusement Park
A history of Glen Echo Amusement Park in particular and trolley parks in general. Includes comprehension questions.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: America Rocks and Rolls
Read a brief history of rock and roll and its roots. See why this form of music shook the establishment and shattered the idea of conformity.