Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Coolidge Era and Consumer Economy
This collection of primary historical documents provides a variety of resources from the Coolidge era. Covers the transformation of the American economy into a mass-consumer culture from a variety of perspectives.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University: Approaches to Po Mo
Georgetown University provides an extensive comparasion, in critical theory terms, between postmodernism and its predessor, modernism. Very academic, but contains a useful comparison chart.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: America in the 1920s: Prosperity: Consumerism
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Industrialization 1870 1900: A New American Consumer Culture
Learn about the development of the consumer mindset at the end of the 19th century.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: The Principles of Scientific Management
An essay by Frederick W. Taylor that outlined his theory of scientific business management, how it worked, and why it was important to industry in the beginning of the 20th century.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Booming 1920s
Section on the post-war economic boom and social changes that hit in the 1920s after World War I.
PBS
Pbs: Electric Consumer Appliances Proliferate
This PBS site provides a background of how the post-World War 1 US economy exploded with the advent of new electrical appliances. Offers additional links.
Other
Brickhaus: The Allure of Household Appliances in the 1920s
This site discusses in detail the impact modern appliances had on the 1920s American household. Technology produced more opportunities within the household. Provides information about the benefits of electricity.
Other
Management Control: Scientific Management
A look at the ideas of scientific management in mass producing products in the early 20th century. Includes ideas of Henry Ford, Frederick Taylor, and Elton Mayo.
Other
Introduction to Anthropology: Taylorism and Fordism
Read about the precepts of Frederick Taylor and Henry Ford in their applications of scientific business management that improved productivity and increased output of consumer goods.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: A Consumer Economy
The booming economy of the 1920s introduced new products and ways of paying for those products. Read about the increase in the kinds of household appliances, places to buy the appliances, and the financing of all those new consumer goods.
Other
For Many, One: Kulturkampfen (Wars for Civilization) of the 1920s
A brief overview of the tumult and change happening in the United States in the 1920s. Read about the resurgance of the KKK, prejudice against immigrants, modernism for women, and evangelical Protestantism. Hyperlinks to a more detailed...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1890 1945: 1920s Consumption
In the 1920s, assembly line production and easy credit made it possible for ordinary Americans to purchase many new consumer goods.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The 1950s: Happy Days
A brief look at American life and politics in the 1950s with an increase in consumerism and fear of the Soviet Union.