American Studies @ The University of Virginia

Animation

One likely contender for the first animated cartoon made in the United States was a project of the Edison studio entitled "Enchanted Drawing," registered for copyright on November 16, 1900. During the period of 1900-1928, there was a change from a single animator into a team of complex organizations to create the animation. This organizational system was mastered by Walt Disney, who streamlined the process of cartoon manufacture and innovated the use of the story board, changing the face of animation and presenting the style of animated film that we are familiar with today.

Origins of American Animation 1900-1921
The development of early American animation is represented by this collection of 21 animated films and 2 fragments, which spans the years 1900 to 1921. The films include clay, puppet, and cut-out animation, as well as pen drawings.
Animation History Timeline
Tracks the history of animation from 1887-the present.
The Big Cartoon Database
A Searchable DataBase of Cartoon Information, Episode Guides and Crew Lists, categorized by studio.
Cartoon Research
"Dedicated To Classic Cartoons: Past, Present & Future," this site features a directory of animated features from 1937-onward and classical animated shorts categorized by studio.
Cartoon Characters
From 1960's-1970's.
Vault Disney Collection
Includes Disney History, Disney Archives, Vintage Views, a Movie Finder, and "This Week in Disney History."
50's & 60'sCommercial Animation Art
Original drawings, cels, photos from the 50's for b/w TV commericals
History of Looney Toons on Television
Site includes a history of Warner Brothers Studio and covers every show from the 1960s to the present.
Barbie: The Image of Us All
An AS @ UVA hypertext that examines Mattel's marketing and advertising techniques and their focus on cultural patterns.
"Yellow Trash"
A University of Virginia American Studies Masters Thesis that examines The Simpsons as a postmodern sitcom that retains the traditional theme of family affirmation. Includes a look at the contested family, the trajectory of the situation comedy, the rise of The Simpsons and a close reading of an episode.

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The Automobile

During the first decade of the 20th century, the automobile emerged as a commercially practical business and industrial venture. In 1901, 425 Oldsmobiles were manufactured and sold. The manufacture of Henry Ford's Model T, which began in 1908, ushered in a new era of attitudes and convictions about the motor car. By mid-century, nearly 15 million automobiles were registered in the United States; today, there are over 140 million. When the automobile first appeared, it was treated as a curiosity, a plaything for the rich and a tinkering project for those who liked to play with the mechanics. Some may argue that not much has changed.

The Museum of Automobile History
Includes an online gallery of their exhibit, which takes you through the chronology of the automobile.
This Day in Automotive History
Maintained by the history channel, this site provides tidbits of automobile history for every day of the year.
Showroom of Automotive History: The Model T
Site includes photographs of the Model T, as well as advertising and sales literature from 1908 onward.
Automobile History--This History of Cars and Engines
Site provides a chronological history of the car, a biography of famous automobile makers, a history of American roads, different makes of automobiles, and a history of automobile accessories and parts.

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By the Decade

Pop Culture by the Decade
Categorized by decade, this site features links to popular culture sites.
The Decades Project
Any & every event of the 20th century.
American Cultural History 1900-1909
From the Kingwood College Library, this site covers Art & Architecture, Books & Literature, Fashion and Fads, Music Theater, Film, & Radio.
PBS.com American Experience: America 1900
A Year in the life of America at the dawn of the 20th Century.
American Cultural History 1910-1919
From the Kingwood College Library, this site covers Art & Architecture, Books & Literature, Fashion and Fads, Music Theater, Film, & Radio.
1910-1919 Decade of the 20th Century
Links to cultural events of the decade.
The Roaring Twenties
A web directory that covers prohibition, culture, literature, entertainment, music, sports, and the black migration.
1920's
Web directory covers entire decade including Women's rights, political scandals, crimes of the century, and economic upheaval.
America in the 1920's
Check out the British perspective of America in the 1920's.
The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression
A comprehensive directory that covers all facets of the 1920's & 1930's.
The AS @ UVA 1930's Project
Site covers art, film, radio, and print of the 1930's, as well as a timeline.
Documenting America: Great Depression to WWII
This Library of Congress site includes images from the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection--some of he most famous documentary photographs ever produced.
The 1940's Weblinks
Web directory of links covering American culture in the 1940's.
American Life in the 1940's
Links to sites that deal with the social aspect of the 1940's.
Rosie the Riveter
Maintained by the Rosie the Riveter Trust, this site is devoted to the women who worked on the homefront. Includes sheet music, poetry, oral history, and Rosie in the News.
The American 1950's
UPenn's alphabetized list of readings in the 1950s.
Behind the Picket Fences: America in the 1950's
Site covers social, racial, gender, economic, and cultural issues of the 1950's.
Fifties Web
Oldies Music, Classic TV, Pop History, Fads, Fashion, and Slang.
Fifties Boulevard
Material culture of the 1950s beginning in the late 40s including food, fashion, entertainment, sports and more.
The Psychedelic 60's
From the University of Virignia Library, this resour ce offers a wealth of historical information on 1960's America. Site focuses on "literary tradition and social change" with narratives and images of the Vietnam War, Beat poets, rock music, civil rights movement, Woodstock and more.
JFK/The Kennedy Assassination
This web site is dedicated to debunking the mass of misinformation and disinformation surrounding the murder of JFK.
The Sixties Project
Specialized paths for scholars, sixties survivors, and casual surfers.
YAHOO! 1960's Pop Culture Directory
Links to tons of 60's-related sites on the web, Including "Stark Raving Mod."
In The 70's
Music, Movies, Television, World Events, Fads & Fashion.
YAHOO! 1970's Pop Culture Directory
Links to tons of 70's-related sites on the web, including "The Bad As Shit Project."
Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe--The 1970's
Seventies Pop Culture Heaven.
YAHOO! 1980's Pop Culture Directory
Links to tons of 80's-related sites on the web, including "ValleyURL."
In the 80's
Music, Movies, Television, World Events, Fads & Fashion.
The Eighties Server
Oh, those crazy eighties.
The Eighties Club
Politics & Pop Culture of the 1980's.
In the 90's
Music, Movies, Television, World Events, Fads & Fashion.
A Reminiscence of the Nineties
Three teenagers look back at the events of the nineties and how they affected them. Includes the Gulf War, the death of Princess Diana, and the growth of the internet.
YAHOO! 1990's Pop Culture Directory
Links to tons of 80's-related sites on the web, including "Reasons Why the 90's Suck."

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Children's Literature

The emergence of modern children's literature is conventionally dated from the middle of the eighteenth century and credited, to John Newberry, with Pretty Little Pocket Book (1742). Americans remained dependent on British books for children until well into the nineteenth century, but in the 1820s, the spirit of literary nationalism began to stir interest in the creation of a truly American literature for children. Identify and describe the images of childhood as revealed in children's literature over time. The study of children's literature allows us to compare and contrast the images of childhood revealed in children's literature to those of philosophical, educational, and sociological theories over time, demonstrate familiarity with major archetypes and motifs of traditional children's literature, and to identify and describe the images of childhood as revealed in children's literature over time.

Social History of Children's Literature
Provides a comprehensive source for studying both the history of childhood and the history of children's literature, and placing them within the context of the history of America.
Twentieth-Century American Children's Literature
An exhibit of materials from four manuscript collections from The University of Oregon Library System.
Children's Literature, Chiefly from the 19th Century
The Collection, from the University of South Carolina, covers children's literature up through about World War I, charting the growth and transformation of books for children during the golden age of the genre in the nineteenth century.
The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairytale
This Library of Congress site studies the first totally American fantasy for children and its sequels, stage plays and musicals, movies and television shows, biographies of Baum, scholarly studies of the significance of the book and film, advertisements, and toys, games, and other Oz-related products.
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There
From the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, here is the full-text of the Lewis Carroll's Classic Children's Tale.
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
University of Virginia's hypermedia presentation of Little Women. Includes a biography of the author, a brief summary of each chapter, the full-text of the book, as well as a bibliography containing a listing of other works, biographies, and criticisms.
Beyond Nancy Drew--Girls' Literature in the Sallie Bingham Center For Women's History and Culture
An annotated bibliography of books for girls written in the last two hundred years, maintained by the Duke University Library.
Selected Children's Literature Special Collections
Provides a database of Children's Literature Special Collections on the Internet.
Dreams of Space
Space art in children's books in the 1950's through 1970's.

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Circuses & Outdoor Amusements

In its various forms, the circus is one of the oldest forms of popular entertainment. Some scholars link the modern circus to Rome's Circus Maximus, but more commonly it is linked to the equestrian training circle of the eighteenth century, which amounted to a one-ring circus in London featuring horsemanship acts. The early American circus then, was transported from England, primarily in the form of John Bill Ricketts, a Scotsman who arrived in Philadelphia in 1793. During the first half of the nineteenth century, distinctive characteristics of the American Circus began to evolve and by 1885, virtually all American circuses had adopted the three-ring show.
The American outdoor entertainment industry evolved from European traditions--the medieval faire and carnival, and the seventeenth-century pleasure garden. Before the America Revolution, pleasure gardens could be found in major cities on the East Coast and included food, drink, music, and free variety acts. The true emergence of the American carnival and the exploitation of amusement rides and concessions is usually cited as 1893, with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Circus Web--Circuses Past & Present
Site detals the history of the circus, circus lore, and links to United States circuses.
History & Tradition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey
Includes biographies of Barnum, Bailey, and Ringlings, as well as a look at a century of circus railroading, a 1947 behind-the-scenes view, and a show history from the 100th Anniversary Program book.
Circus History Collections & Research
A directory of circus-related holdings of libraries, universities, and museums, categorized by state.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
A University of Virginia hypertext that explores the original western spectacle.
Amusement Park Industry History
Maintained by The National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA), this history chronicles the amusement park industry from medieval Europe to present day.
The World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath
This hypertextual thesis from the University of Virginia explores the 1892 Exposition through a virtual tour, investigates visitor's reactions to the Fair, and analyzes the social, political and cultural legacies of the World's Columbian Exposition.
Coney Island History Website
An image-filled project on the history of the New York amusement park that set the standard.
Defunct Amusement Parks
A collection of defunct amusement park information, searchable by state, with history and photographs.
Roller Coasters--Inventing the Scream Machine
Encylcopedia Brittanica's chronological history of the roller coaster and its inventors.
Disneyland History
A searchable interactive map that provides the history of each of Disneyland's themed "lands."
Disneyland Photo Tour
Take a tour of Disneyland in the 50's & 60's.
Themed Lands
From Storybook Land to the World's Largest Birdhouse, check out these great outdoor amusements.

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Comics

The American comic strip may have been influenced by prehistoric cave drawings, the medieval Bayeux tapestry, the eighteenth-century print series of such artists as William Hogarth, the illustrated European broadsheet, the nine-teenth century illustrated novels and children's books, or European and American humous periodicals, but it is a distinct form of expression unto itself and is primarily an American creation. Some would suggest that the first comic strip was James Swinnerston's 1895 feature for the San Fransisco Examinir, "Little Bears and Tykes." Others more commonly suggest Richard Outcault's "The Yellow Kid," who first appeared in the May, 1895 issue of the New York World. The daily and Sunday comic strips, and comic books, are part of the reading habits of millions of Americans.

Comic Art & Graffix Gallery History of Comic Art
Site chronicles the history and story of the creation of the comic art form.
Comics Research Bibliography
A n international bibliography of comic books, comic strips, animation, caricature, cartoons, bandes dessinees, and related topics. Also includes a directory of comics site links.
Comics Research Library
Comprehensive listing of comics holdings at university libraries across the country.
Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon--Exhibitions and Online Presentations
Library of Congress collections in cartoon and caricature.
Boondocks.net Political Cartoons Page
Provides a comprehensive guide to political cartoons throughout American history.
Dr. Suess Went to War
A catalog of political cartoons by Sr. Suess, maintained by the Mandeville Special Collections Library.
Uniting Mugwumps and the Masses: Puck's Role in Gilded Age Politics
Site provides a text-based & image-based study. The Text-Based section is an analysis of cartooning as well as Gilded Age political culture. The Image-Based section provides a Puck cartoon archive, as well as deconstructions of particular cartoons.
Blondie Gets Married
This Library of Congress site presents twenty-seven drawings with Exhibition Panels including Courtship, Wedding, Family, Mailman, Work, Love, Homemaking, Food, Naps, and Baths.
Monstrous Claws & Character Flaws: Masterpieces of Cartoon & Caricature at the Library of Congress
An exhibition in the Swann Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon at the Library of Congress.
Oliphant's Anthem: Pat Oliphant at the Library of Congress
Oliphant is considered among the most gifted practitioners in the history of political cartooning.
Political Cartoon Search
The biggest database of political cartoons by the best political cartoonists in the world.
New Yorker Cartoon Bank
Cartoon Prints & Cover Prints.

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Conspiracy Theories & Urban Legends

Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Theories
Six Theories.
Pearl Harbor: Mother of All Conspiracies
"...everything that the Japanese were planning to do was known to the United States..." ARMY BOARD, 1944
Lincoln/Kennedy Assassination Coincidences
Conspiracy or Coincidence?
JFK Assassination Websites
Links to sites dealins with assassination resources.
THE PROBE
Articles concerning the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK.
James Earl Ray
Detailed examination of the assassination, including King's relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, alleged conspiracies, and Ray's role.
The AIDS Conspiracy
Theories that AIDS is a government conspiracy to destroy undesirable populations.
Justice for Kurt Cobain
Was Kurt Cobain murdered?
Exit Tupac, Enter Machiavelli
The Tupac Shakur Conspiracy
Princess Diana's Death
Directory of Diana links.
September 11 Conspiracy Theory Directory
Links to common September 11 theories.
The Scooby Doo/X Files Conspiracy
Proves the X-Files is nothing more than a rip-off of the 70's hit Saturday morning cartoon, Scooby Doo.
Create Your Own Conspiracy Theory
Fill in the blanks to your very own conspiracy
Snopes.com
Urban Legends Reference Pages
How Stuff Works: Urban Legends
What they are, where they come from and why they spread so quickly.

Death

Throughout American history, popular customs have reflected general American attitudes toward death. The Puritans began early in the education of their children to establish a healthy respect for death. Two of the most popular books of Puritan New England were intended to instill in children their parents' fear: A Token For Children and The New England Primer. The importation of the Romantic movement to America at the turn of the nineteenth century led to a fascination with death and more grandiose funerary rituals. Toward the beginning of the twentieth century, there arose a dependence on the funeral home for its services, a change that physically removes the presence of death from the household, along with some of the trauma. For many Americans, death today has become an unfamiliar event as science and technology have worked to prolong life and to ease medical suffering. The study of American attitudes toward death over time provides insight into the change in American values, family systems, rituals and customs, as well as fears.

Emmeline Grangerford's Scrapbook--Death in Victorian America
A look at the Victorian American way of death through the pages of Mark Twain's character Emmeline Grangerford's scrapbook. Site explores attitudes toward death, mourning, obituaries, postmortem photography, funerary practices, and epitaphs.
Death Links
Web directory for sites covering death: cemeteries, tragedies, Dia de los Muertos, Wars, and Famous Dead.
Hair Jewelry Exhibit
From the Historic Northhampton Museum and Education Century, an exhibit on American mourning jewelry.
Morbid Outlook
Site contains nonfiction articles on death, mourning, and funerary practices.

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Detective & Mystery Novels

Mystery and detective fiction have been among the most popular fictional genres to emerge in Western literature. The roots of mystery fiction have been traced into antiquity, puzzles and narrative riddles are found in folklores of all cultures, and the search for solutions reaches beyond recorded history. Detective stories demand observation, reasoning, and imagination, allowing the reader to take part in the challenge of the protagonist. Mysteries are less specialized than detective stories and often verge on gothic. The origins of the detective story, it is generally agreed, are found in the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Subsequent writers tried to tackle the genre, with the first "classic" detective story cited as Anna Katherine Greene's "The Leavenworth Case" (1878). In the next decade, Greene was eclipsed by Arthur Conan Doyle. The classic detective stories appeared in slick magazines and hardcover novels, making its strongest appeal to the upwardly mobile middle class.

The Beginnings of the Mystery Novel
Includes timelines and author information, as well as links to detective and mystery literature sites.
Society & The Detective Novel
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute guide to Detective novels.
Mystery Time Line
From mysterynet.com
The Thrilling Detective Website
Featuring Private Eyes & Other Tough Guys and Gals, as well as print, television, and radio detectives.
The History of Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction
An essay from Case Western Reserve University
Sherlock Holmes on the Web
Everything the Web offers about Sherlock Holmes is here.
Court TV's Crime Library: Gangsters & Outlaws
Search biographies and images of your favorite bad guys.

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Drug Culture

Illegal Drugs in America: A Modern History
An exhibit from the DEA, this site covers America's first drug epidemic to the return of cocaine & the rise of cartels.
Thirty Years of America's Drug War
A Chronology from PBS.org
Television from the 80's:Public Service Announcements
"You Alright? I learned it from watching you."
Partnership for a Drug-Free America
"Just Say No"
History of Hightimes
From 1970 to now, a chronology of the high times and higher times of High Times.
Hippies & Drugs
From Hippy.com
A History of Reefer Madness
The cult classic movie for partiers like you.

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Fads & Fashion

The good, the bad, and the ugly: fads and fashion have been a part of American culture from the beginning. As culture and attitudes change, fashion changes with it. A culture's clothing is revealing of its social systems, its customs, its values, and its sense of identity.

Bad Fads Museum
Browse through the fun and fascinating fashion, collectible, activity and event fads of the last 100 years.
Crazy Fads.com
Read about fads from the past 100 years: hula hoops, disco, pet rocks, goldfish swallowing, flagpole sitting, mood rings, Rubik's Cubes, 3D movies, and more.
The Costume Gallery
Online Research Library for fashion and costume, categorized by decade.
American Vintage Blues: History of Fashion
From 1900-1980, read about the clothing, accessories, hairdos, and designers of each decade of American history.
18th Century Fashion Links
From American Revolution Uniforms to Kilts, fashion of the 18th century can be found in this web directory.
Flapper Fashion Page
Descriptions and illustrations of 1920's flapper fashions.
The Pin-up Page
W eb site devoted to the pin-up girls of the 1940's and 50's.
Historical Boys Clothing
Site includes over 10,000 pages covering the history of boys' fashion and trends.
Invention of Levi's 501 Jeans
The invention of the blue jeans, from the company that started it all.

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Film

The first public audience to watch a film was December 28, 1895 in Paris, a Lumiere brothers' production that showcased moving images of scenes taken from ordinary life. The first filmmaker to successfully tell a story with film was George Melies, another Frenchman, at the turn of the century. Thomas Edison and Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) was America's first storytelling film. The first major, long film was 1915's The Birth of a Nation, directed by David Wark Griffith, and from there, it wasn't long before the modern film industry of studio systems and star systems took hold.

The Internet Movie Database
Vast resource for EVERYTHING movie related--filmographies, facts, bloopers, photo galleries, etc.
Rotten Tomatoes
Movie Reviews and Previews
Movie Studios, Distributors and TV Stations
An alphabetical directory of studios. From IMDB.
American Film Institute
A research, preservation, and education institution that includes "100 Years Lists" and The AFI Catalog of Feature Films online while explores American films, decade by decade.
Silent Film Resources
Any and everything you'd want to find out about Silent Films, including the Stars.
REEL American History
A hypertext from Lehigh University, this project chronicles American History through its films.
American Picture Palaces
From the University of Virginia American Studies Program, a study of classic American movie theaters.
American Memory Collection: Motion Picture & Television Reading Room
From the Library of Congress, this site features links to exhibits on: "Motion Pictures 1894-1915," Early Films of San Francisco," "Films of the Westinghouse Works 1904," "The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures," and "Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film."
Gay Movie History
A chronology of the depiction of homosexuality in film.
"Skinfolks & Kinfolks"
Racial Passing in American Films 1930-1960. An AS @ UVA Master's Thesis.
New Frontiers in American Documentary Film
This AS @ UVA Master's Thesis offers a beginning point for the digital preservation and presentation of revolutionary 1930s documentary films.
Prelinger Archive
Online archive of Educational Films - don't miss A is for Atom.
Blaxploitation
Learn about Sweet Sweetback, Foxy Brown, Shaft, and other icons of this unique film genre.
Hollywood Teen Movies
From Beach Blanket Bingo to the Bratpack, this site covers all your favorite teen movies from the 1950's to today.
The 20 Worst Movie Titles in Hollywood History
"Because a film by any other name...probably has a better name."
Cult-Films
Directory of cult film classics.
Bad Movies.org
Reviews of films of dubious value, including pictures, sounds, and videos.

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Foodways

Few subjects occupy a larger place in the American consciousness than food. In both a literal and figurative sense, food serves to define individual and group identities; culturally acquired and nurtured matters of taste demark ethnic, regional, racial, and spiritual differences between Americans and different "food movements" reflect changing American ideals and focuses.

Dining Through the Decades
"100 Years of Glorious American Food"
Food History Timeline
Twentieth Century timeline of edibles and quaffables.
Teacher Resources for Food History Lessons
EVERYTHING about food--from the history of horticulture to who was the real Aunt Jemima?--as well as inventions like the juice box and facsimiles of antique cookbooks.
Open Directory--Food History
A-Z Web Directory of Food History
Not by Bread Alone: America's Culinary Heritage
Site from Cornell University explores the influences and inventions that have shaped American food habits over the past two hundred years and highlights rare books, photographs, menus, and other early documents that trace the history of gastronomy in America.
America the Bountiful
Classic American food from antiquity to the space age.
Open Directory--Fast Food
A-Z Web Directory of Fast Food, including essays from a Chick-Fil-A employee & fast food facts.
A History of the Fast Food Industry
Essay on America as Fast Food Nation: includes Fast Food & the Media and the McDonald's Take-over.
Fast Food Premiums
A look at vintage Happy Meal toys & other premiums.
Junk Food News
Your resource to junk food in America.
Directory of Snack Food Brands
Find the sites of your favorite snack food companies.
History of Frozen Food
The American Frozen Food Industry takes you on a trip through frozen food history from the 1930's to today.
History of the Grocery Store
Timeline & History.
Vintage SuperMarket Photos
See where Mama went to bring home the bacon.
Discount Stores of the 60's
White Front, Sams, etc.
Grocery Packaging
1950's-1970's. Even the vegetables looked different...
Kids Food Packaging
Candy, cereal, drinks, cookies, pudding, etc., check out these crazy kids food packagings.
Cereal Boxes
1950's-1970's. Do you remember Sir Grapefellow? Nah, me neither.

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Games & Toys

Games and toys, as part of the larger topic of play, are significant in shaping individual personalities and cultures. While the use of games and toys is not limited to childhood, it is obvious that in our society these terms are gereanlly reserved for children's activities. The games and toys of colonial children were those of their British, French, Dutch, and German ancestors: tag, jumprope, leapfrog. Prosperity and changing values brought greater variety to the toy market in the eighteenth century; we can also see the emergence of ball games and indoor games in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America. By the nineteenth century, an emphasis on material success can be seen with the tremendous popularity of Milton Bradley's "The Checkered Game of Life" (1860), with squares such as "wealth," "happiness," "poverty," "jail," and "suicide" making up the board. The plethora of games in the twentieth century reveals much about American culture. Since many of these games involve elements of chance as well as strategy, they may reflect a growing uncertainty about the future.

The History of Toys & Games
From the History Channel: Discover the origins of your favorite toys and games.
Colonial Activities for children
How to make Colonial toys and play Colonial games.
Victorian Games
The etiquette of card playing and games.
The History of Puzzle, Card, and Board Games
The history of the invention of your favorite games from A-Z.
The History of Toys
The history of toy balloons, Slinky, Hula Hoop, Frisbee, Hacky Sack, Lego, SILLY PUTTY, Silly String, Tinkertoy, Etch A Sketch, Video Games, Yo-Yo, Erector Set, Super Soaker, Water Talkies, and more.
80's Children.com
Rainbrow Brite, Jem & The Holograms, Thundercats--All your old friends are right here.
Cereal Premiums
Oh yeah. You knew why you really ate all that cereal...
Gum Art Cards
Original Art - 1950's-1970's: Wacky Packages, Bazooka Joe, Candy, etc
Cracker Jack.com
Cracker Jack history, trivia, toys, games, & prizes.
The Gallery of Monster Toys
Comprehensive collection of monster toys from the 60's-90's.
The Dot Eaters: Classic Video Game History
From the Primordial Ooze, to the Computer Game, this site follows video game history from 1889 to the present.
Nintendoland
Complete history of Nintendo, play online games, and learn all about Mario.

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Gothic Novels

The gothic novel had its greatest general popularity in a relatively brief period of literary history, the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was originally an English literary form, although authors and readers in other countries quickly adopted gothic fiction and its convention for their own. The influence of the gothic in fiction, however, has been much more significant than its relatively short period of great popularity would indicate. Besides its contributions to the detective novel, science fiction, horror stories, the popular melodrama, and the works of nineteenth- and twentieth- century authors, the gothic novel has also survived as a form in itself.

The Literary Gothic
Search novels by title or author. Also includes gothic web resources.
The Gothic Novel
History & elements of the popular literary genre.
The Dark Ages: A History of Horror
Timeline and articles following the roots of horror.
Sublime Anxiety: The Gothic Family and the Outsider
A Special Collections exhibit from the University of Virginia.

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Heroes & Celebrities

From Captain John Smith to John Fitzgerald Kennedy: as long as there has been America, there has been a hero who has served as symbol for American's hopes and dreams. Heroes articulate longing and exemplify American ideals; they are examples of how Americans would like to see themselves.

TIME 100 Most Important People of the Century
Profiles of individuals who--for better or worse--influenced the last 100 years.
TIME 100: Heroes & Icons
Profiles of individuals who articulate the longings of the past 100 years.
VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Images included. Come see who made #1.
The Presidents of the United States
From the White House, biographies of all the American presidents.
Women of the Century
From the Discovery Channel; search by decade.
10 Most Important Figures in African American History
From Ebony.com
ESPN.com Top North American Athletes of the Century
Biographies of great athletes of the 20th century, as selected and profiled by ESPN as part of the SportsCentury retrospective.
100 Greatest Female Athletes
Sports Illustrated for Women's biographies of the century's greatest sportswomen.
Gay Heroes.com
Gay & Lesbian people in history.
Miss America History
Follow the history of the quintessential American pageant from the 1920's onward.
Boomers' Pin-ups
The Fifties Teen Idols.
Whatever Happened To?
Search for the has-beens, the flash-in-the-pans and those pseudo-celebrities who were all too annoying during their 15 measly minutes.

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Jazz

The jazz tradition springs from the American cultural experiment; it is the precise musical analogy to the melting pot. New Orleans is considered the birthplace of jazz, with the word itself deriving from the word "jass," being a euphemism for sexual activity. Joe "King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band was one of the earliest bands, making its recording debut in 1923 and featuring a second young cornetist named Louis Armstrong. Amstrong emerged from Oliver's shadow to become the quintessential jazz soloist. Meanwhile, in the New York of the 1920's, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was beginning a long career that would establish him as one of America's great composers. With the establishment of the solo-ensemble format, which may be considered a sophisticate extension of the call-and-response legacy of African music, and the development of the jazz orchestra, the stage was set for the popular success and excesses of the Swing Era.

Explore jazz history through one photograph
A Great Day in Harlem, from Harlem.org. Or browse by timeline, artist, instrument, or style.
Jass.com
History, early jazz musicians, photographs, and a look at the Cotton Club.
PBS.com: JAZZ A Film by Ken Burns
Features Jazz in Time, Places Spaces & Changing Faces, A Listening Lounge, Biographies, a look at how jazz mirrored society, and a special section for kids.
Styles of Jazz: A Map
From Northwestern University, adapted from Joachim Berendt's The Jazz Book.
Jazz History--The Verve Group
Jazz History, with chapters including Blues, Swing, Latin, Bebop, 3rd Stream, and Avant Garde.
Smithsonian Jazz
Intended to preserve and promote Jazz music. Includes an online version of the Smithsonian's Duke Ellington collection.
Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz
The Library of Congress site features photographs from the William P. Gottlieb Collection, documenting the jazz scene from 1938 to 1948, primarily in New York City and Washington, D.C.
New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park
Information on jazz and the park.
Gallery 41
Featuring rare, historical, and uniquely personal conversations with the greatest Jazz artists of our generation. Highlighted with photographs, voice and music audio clips, and more.
Big Bands and Big Names
Original historic reviews and photos of swing, and big band, and other performers from the '40s and '50s.
The Origins of Big Band Music
A History of Big Band Jazz.
The History of HipHop
Chronicles the history of one of jazz's successors.

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Magazines & Newspapers

More than any other medium, the magazine represents America. Other nations produce periodicals, but nowhere else is there the multicolored, multivoiced flood of print that inundates Americans weekly, monthly, and quarterly. As consumer products, magazines develop and satisfy the tastes of contemporary Americans; as primary advertising tools of business and industry, magazines help provide the market that supplies the demand for products; and as instruments of entertainment and enlightenment, magazines both create and respond to current social values and the panorama of American culture. Although printing presses were among the first cargoes to the American colonies, it was not until 1741 that an American magazine was printed and identified as such. It was the "American Magazine, or A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies" issued by Andrew Bradford, just 3 days before rival publisher, Benjamin Franklin's "General Magazine, and Historical Chronicle for All the British Plantations in America," setting the stage for competition between the media that survives today.
Newspapers, seen as the "serious" side of America's media, are often overlooked as popular culture, but unlike magazines, newspapers are a daily presence in American life. The ill-fated "Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick" was the Colonies' first newspaper, published in Boston on September 5, 1690 and suppressed by the colonial governor after that first issue. Colonial newspapers are regarded as having profoundly affected and sharpened the issues confronting the Colonies and as having hastened the Revolutionary War. Since their start, newspapers have made themselves a necessary part of the average citizen's daily life.

LIFE Magazine
Features LIFE History, Cover Collection, and top events of the past century.
TIME Archive
Features a Past Cover Search.
The New York Times: NYT at 150
Features a timeline of NYT history, plus articles and reminiscences.
People.com Magazine Timeline
From 1970 onward, see PEOPLE history. Also includes magazine facts.
HarpWeek: Explore History
Electronic Access to Harper's Weekly 1857-1912. America's Leading 19th Century Newspaper.
National Geographic History Index
Features interactive guides based on historical records.
HistoryBuff.com
This web site is an historical reference of newspaper coverage from the 16th Century to the 20th Century.
Civil War Newspapers
From Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the Civil War. Search newspapers from Fall 1859-Fall 1870.
Pages from the Past
From Archiving Early America, site features 18th Century documents such as newspapers, maps, and letters plus modern articles and films about the original thirteen colonies and early republic.
MuckRaking
History of andleading writers of the genre.
PBS.org: Crucible of Empire--Yellow Journalism
Includes Hearst Biography, Davis Biography, Headline Gallery, and Cartoon Gallery.
Hearst Corporation History
Features biographies and a timeline.
Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During WWII
This Library of Congress site chronicles eight women who came to the front and followed various paths to their wartime assignments.
A Brief History of the Tabloid
50 Years of the tabloids...
Louise Brooks Vintage Magazine Covers
From the 1920's and 1930's.
50's Teen Idol Magazines
This site honors the teen idol magazines of the fifties--with snapshots and articles.

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Popular Music & Dance

While thoughtful attention to popular music is relatively new, the music itself has been vigorously alive in this country for a long time. Some of the music brought to the New World by the colonists was serious academic music; some was what we would now call "folk music," belonging to the community by tradition; some however, was popular music, printed and sold in broadsides or songbooks or performed by professional entertainers to paying audiences. The source of this popular music was the mother countries of the new Americans, chiefly England, but during the eighteenth century an increasing amount of this popular music was written in the colonies for colonists. Thomas Edison built the first phonograph in 1877, but for half a century phonograph records would only make up a minority of popular music sales. At the opening of the twentieth century, the American band was being heard everywhere, with a boom in social dancing beginning during the second decade of that century. The industry was swinging through World War II, rocking and rolling through mid-century, and becoming political and ideological in the 1960s and 1970s. Through studying American popular music, a heritage can be discovered; that heritage can contribute to the understanding of American culture.

All Music Guide: Music Styles
Every genre you can think of; provides histories, timelines, and important contributing albums.
Popular Songs in American History
Tunes, Lyrics, Information, Historical Background, and Tune-related links, beginning with the 17th century.
UCLA Digital Library Sheet Music Archive
American Popular Songs in the form in which they were originally published, beginng with the 1920's.
History in Song
American history as told through its music; American Revolution through 1960's.
Music Published in America: 1870-1885
From the Library of Congress, this site documents the attitudes and tastes of a bygone era with music of many varieties and many origins, all of it published in the United States between 1870 and 1885.
American Popular Music Before 1900
This chronologically arranged web page is intended as an overview of American History through its music; also includes lyrics.
The Lester L. Levy Sheet Music Collection
P art of Special Collections at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University, the collection contains over 29,000 pieces of music and focuses on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960.
American Popular Music 1900-1950
A Chronological Subject Guide from Kingwood College Library.
Songs of the Great Depression
Lyrics to 3 popular Depression-era songs.
Manufacturing Memory: American Popular Music in the 1930's
From AS @ UVA, the decade of the 1930's is divided into two halves, 1930-1934 and 1935-1939.
BILLBOARD Album Charts
Top Music in all genres.
Archives of African American Music & Culture
From the collection at Indiana University.
American Roots Music
From PBS.org, travel back through the 20th century to explore the roots of American music: Blues, Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, Cajun, Zydeco, Tejano, and Native American.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
History of Rock & Roll visual timeline.
Rolling Stone Artists A-Z
Includes biographies, discographies, images, and reviews.
Memphis Music Tour
Historical E-Tours of The Memphis Music Legacy, including, of course, Elvis Presley.
American Music on the World Wide Web
Directories according to genre.
American Popular Music 1950-Present
A Chronological Subject Guide from Kingwood College Library.
Swing & Big Band Database
An ongoing project dedicated to Bands; to Jazz and to Swing History, and to the music now known to the world as "American Popular Song".
River of Song
From PBS &The Smithsonian, the site follows music along the Mississippi River.
One Hit Wonder Central
One hit wonders of the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, & 90's
Pop Music--The 70's
Includes Lyrics & Billboard position.
Pop Music--The 80's
Includes Lyrics & Billboard position.
Pop Music--The 90's
Includes Lyrics & Billboard position.
Heavy Metal & Hard Rock 1969-1999
Selective sample of 30 years of hard rock, heavy metal, hard alternative and grunge, includes some lyrics & Billboard postition.
Top Pop Lists
Popculturemadness features "top" lists including the Worst Pop Songs of All Time.
Absolute Lyric
Pop, Rock, R&B, and Dance music lyrics.
Rap Dictionary
Ay yo trip this cipher.
List of Dances
From Wikipedia--List can be searched alphabetically or by dance style categories, dances sorted by ethnicity, and novelty/fad dances.
A Dance Web Directory
A-Z Guide to dance sites on the web.
Dance Steps
Singles Line Dances, Couples Line Dances, Ball Room Dances, and Party Dances--remember the Macarena?
An American Ballroom Companion
From the Library of Congress, Dance Instruction Manuals 1490-1920.
Free to Dance--Dance Timelne 1619-2001
From PBS.org
Descriptions of Early American Social Dances
The Balboa through the Trunky Doo.
Dance Histories
History of Social Dances.
African Dance Resources
African Dance and African American Dance Resources.

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Occult & The Supernatural

In the absence of substantial research, it can only be hypothesized that occult beliefs were present among the earliest European settlers in the New World. The subsequent history of the occult in America, to the extent that it has been documented, suggests a complex of Native American and African traditions; European folklore and customs; European intellectual traditions; and the efficacy of magic, witchcraft, and astrology. The Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692 are an example of colonial America's obsession with the occult, an obsession that was rekindled in the 1780s with the Romantic movement. Interest rose again in the 1820s and 1830s with the introduction of animal magnetism and phrenology from Europe. By the later 1830s and 1840s, a whirl of occultisms, revelations, new religions, and reform movements were sweeping across the country. Spiritualism began in the United States as a means of contacting spirits of the dead through human mediums. In 1875, the Theosophical Society, one of the most influential of all modern occult movements, was formed in New York. After WWI, interest was again his in psychical phenomenon, mediumship, Vedanta philosophy, and Krishnamurti, and after WWII in flurries of enthusiasm over flying saucers, hypnotic regression to past lives, and Zen Buddhism. As long as there are questions left unanswered, there will be an interest in the occult.

Salem Witch-Hunt Interactive
From National Geographic.com
The History of Phrenology on the Web
The most comprehensive website for the history of phrenology—the most popular Victorian science.
Ghosts of the Prairie--The Haunted Museum
Chronicle of Ghost Research, from the heyday of Spiritualism to the modern era. From the Fox sisters and the birth of Spiritualism, to Ouija boards, ghost hunting, and how to have a seance.
The Moonlit Road
Ghost stories and folktales from the American South.
Spooky Stories at American Folklore.net
Ghost stories, strange happenings, and supernatural events.
Museum of Talking Boards
An online museum of Ouija Boards.
"Supernatural"
From Wikipedia--includes arguments for and against, as well as links to related topics.
Roswell Incident Report
From Air-Force Research.
The X-Files Timeline
The X-Files Timeline attempts to consolidate every date and chronological reference made in the X-Files. Includes Prehistory-1970.
Unsolved Mysteries
The site of the series; includes tales of lost loves, missing, homocide, and fugitives.

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Physical Fitness

America has been concerned about physical fitness (or "physical culture," the older term) from the country's beginnings. The University of Virginia built the first wooden gym in 1853 and was followed shortly by the brick and stone gyms at Harvard, Yale, and Amherst. By 1909, 114 colleges had gymnasiums and 111 had some sort of physical education department. The YMCA formed in the 1840s to improve the spiritual condition of young men engaged in the trades. The playground movement, which began in Boston in 1885, also contributed to the development of physical fitness. The story of fitness during the first half of the twentieth century is predominately an up-down history of a nation becoming intensely concerned about the state of its fitness during wartime and apathetic during peace time. In the second half of the twentieth century, fitness became more of a priority for all Americans, with gym memberships, home workout videos, and celebrities hawking fitness equipment filling everyday life. The fitness trend has also included fad dieting and, after several lawsuits, the current attempt of fast food companies to "slim down." Physical fitness is an integral part of American culture today.

American Social Hygeine Posters ca. 1910-1970
Collection of posters from the Social History Archives at the University of Minnesota. Posters on topics such as sexually transmitted diseases, physical fitness and health.
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN HEALTH, HYGIENE AND FITNESS
By Dr. Alison Wrynn, SUNY Cortland
President's Council on Physical Fitness History
History and mission from the government site.
Muscle Beach
Smithsonian magazine's article on the locale of the start of the fitness craze.
The American Fitness Revolution
From American Sports Data, Inc. A Study of the new fitness trend in America.
History of Sports Shoes
From the foot race to Nike, the Curtin University of Technology Dept. of Podiatry site covers it all.
Nike Timeline
History from the company's website.
Nike and the American Body
An AS @ UVA hypertext examining Nike and its contributions to the culture of American Fitness.
History of Playgrounds
Charlottesville Parks and Grounds, 2001.
Fitness Fashion in the late 20th century
Track fitness attire from 1960-present.
Dancewear through theAges
Ever wonder where leotards came from?
History of Yoga
A Complete Overview of the History of Yoga.
Fad Diet.com
From Dr. Atkins to the Russian Air Force Diet--comprehensive list of fad diets along with some interesting humor.
Richard Simmons.com
Richard's Bio.

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Pornography/Sex

Ben Franklin was the first American to own a copy of John Clelland's "Fanny Hill; Or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" (1747). In 1846, the Irishman William Haynes began to publish erotic books in New York, and the 1850s saw the rise to prominence of George Thompson, who wrote hundreds of pornographic novels under pseudonyms. Pornographic daguerreotypes were increasing in vogue when the first motion picture films were made in 1894. As far as is known, the first pornographic films were made shortly after, in 1896. One of the earliest American stag films was "A Free Ride," alternately titled "A Grass Sandwich" (1915). From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, an increasing number of theatres ventured to show an increasing amount of sex, and later sex and violence, in the form of nudies and roughies to an ever widening audience. Playboy is a men's magazine founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner. Playboy is one of the world's best known brand, providing an example that, no matter in what form, porn sells.

Porn Library
History of Porn Bibliography
Crackers & Whackers: The White Trashing of Porn
Porn's predilection for white trash looks and tastes by Constance Penley
How 'Deep Throat' Demystified Sex in America
Examines the cultural significance of the 1972 porn classic "Deep Throat."
Notes on the History of Porn
History going as far back as the 1650's.
"One person's erotica is another person's pornography"
Descriptions of porn genres and bibliography.
Retro Raunch
O ffering vintage erotica and antique porno pictures of classic pin-up models
Retromynx
Features pin up girls and female bombshells.
Vintage Pics
Collection of adult photos.
Old Time Porn
Porn pictures from the 1800s and early 1900s.
BigKugels Photographic
Providing rare nude and erotica photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries.
World of Playboy
Playboy Magazine Archives of Covers, Images, and Interviews
Hef's Pages
The history of Hugh Hefner
Strange Sisters
An archive of Lesbian Paperback Artwork from the 50's & 60's.
Erotic University
Adult Sex Education for the 21st century
70's Porn
Classic porn from the groovy 70's.
BIG BOOBS--Ancient & Modern
Brief retrospect of breasts in porn taken from magazines, films, and other sources.
ACME Vintage
Free access to vintage erotica and pin up art from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Retro Smut
Pre-Silicone Porn from the 60's.
History of the Vibrator
A San Diego State University graduate student project for a "Women and Technology" course. Includes great photographs, including the late 19th century jolting chair and a Sears Ad for a vibrator.
The Vibrator: A Timeline History
A history of woman's best friend, from Binghamton University.
Vagina list
The longest vagina nickname list in the world.

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The Pulps

Originally, the terms "pulp," "pulp magazine," and "pulp fiction" were writers' and publishers' trade terms. To the magazine writer and his potential advertisers, the quality of paper was a vital concern; so-called slick paper afforded a highly desirable look, but was expensive and was only economically feasible for large-circulation magazines. Pulp paper, on the other hand, was much cheaper and its use made possible for publishers to reach a mass reading market at a low price. Many different kinds of magazines with low advertising content utilized pulp paper: comic books; political and cultural journals;, newspaper book review and entertainment supplements;, scholastic, library, and book trade publications, etc. However, only the popular fiction or all-fiction magazine acquired the name "pulp." These publications included detective stories, adventure stories, and fantasies, like "Dime Detective," "Argosy," "Blue Book," and "Weir

The Yellow Pages--Popular Culture