Dawn of Mass Culture
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Transcript Dawn of Mass Culture
Dawn of Mass Culture
19th century amusements:
Horse racing, card playing,
theater, baseball, dancing, parties
Leisure
Relief from city congestion & dull factories
Amusement parks
Built
on green spaces
Often built by trolley car companies
Picnic grounds & rides
Coney Island, NY
1894-
Roller Coaster!
World Columbian Expo- Chicago 1893
More leisure
Bicycling
Male
only till 1885: Safety bicycle
Smaller
Women
wheels, air filled tires
discard corsets
Shirtwaists
& split skirts, to ride
Gave women a sense of freedom
Tennis
First
seen in Wales, 1873
New snacks:
Potato Chips - 1853
Chewing Gum - 1870
Coca Cola - 1886
Designed
by pharmacist to cure headaches
Cracker Jacks – 1893
Hershey Bars - 1900
Ice Cream cone - 1904
Popsicle - 1905
Sports
Spectator Sports
Boxing
Baseball
Telegraphed transmissions of contests at hotel lobbies &
barber shops
Based on Rounders, English sport
By 1860s, many clubs across US
National League 1876
American League 1900
1st World Series: 1903
Negro Leagues founded
Spread of Mass Culture
Art galleries, Libraries, books
Motion Pictures
Newspapers
Pulitzer- NY World
Hearst- NY Journal, SF Examiner
Art
Realism
Thomas Eakins
Ashcan school
Competed for readership- exaggerated stories
Yellow Journalism
Gritty urban life scenes
Abstract (Europe)
Libraries spread (poor man’s university)
Fiction
Crime, Westerns
Realism- Jack London, Stephen Crane- show lower classes
Humor- Mark Twain
Shopping
Malls (Arcades)
Cleveland, 1890
Department Stores
Marshall Field, Chicago
Chains
Five & Dime stores
Advertising
Geared to women shoppers
Bargain basement
Woolworth’s
Jewelry, leather goods, stationery
Bands play on Sundays
Mostly patent medicines
Soaps, baking powders
Newspapers, magazines, billboards, barns, rocks
Catalogues & RFD
Montgomery Ward (1872) Sears (1886)
Rural Free Delivery- packages to your home!