YELLOW PAGES
Ethnicity
Gender
Literature
Philosophy
and Religion
Popular Culture
Regional Studies
Social Sciences
Science and
Technology
|
|
The Yellow
Pages--Popular Culture
popular, a. (n.)
-
Of, pertaining to, or consisting
of the common people, or the people as a whole as distinguished from
any particular class; constituted or carried on by the people.
-
Having characteristics attributed
to the common people; low, vulgar, plebeian. Obs.
-
Intended for or suited to ordinary
people. a. Adapted to the understanding or taste of ordinary people.
culture, n.
-
The totality of socially transmitted
behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products
of human work and thought.
-
These patterns, traits, and products
considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community,
or population.
-
The predominating attitudes and
behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.
-
Intellectual and artistic activity
and the works produced by it.
Advertising has been decribed as an instituion,
a business, an industry, a discipline, a profession, a science,
an art, and a talent. It has been defined as news, salesmanship
in print, and mass communication. To look at the advertisements
of a nation is to view that nation's tastes and values. Although
adverising did not originate in America, this country has probably
done more than any other nation to use and foster advertising.
It is most likely the most persuasive form of popular culture.
Ad*Access
An image database of over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S.
and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access
concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation,
Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II.
The
Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920
Presents over 9,000 images, with database information,
relating to the early history of advertising in the United States.
The materials are drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special
Collections Library at Duke University.
AdCritic.com
From Creativity Magazine, this site rates television
commercials, including the latest spots, Super Bowl Commercials,
and Top Twenties.
Television
Commercials Database
A searchable resource for TV commercials from all
over the world.
Old-Time
Radio Commercials
Site features soundbytes of old-time radio commercials,
culled from fading memories and low-fidelity tapes, including
theFirst Commercial Introduced on Radio Broadcast in 1922.
19th
Century Advertising History.com
Harpweek presents a taste of the advertisements found in the pages
of Harper's Weekly 1857-1872.
Medicine
and Madison Avenue
A database of over 600 health-related advertisements printed between
1911 and 1958, as well as 35 selected historical documents relating
to health-related advertising.
Museum of Broadcast
Communications
The museum contains a wide array of broadcasting memorabilia,
and an extensive publicly-available archives collection of more
than 60,000 radio and television programs and commercials. It
is home to the Radio Hall of Fame and maintains an exhibit of
the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Krazy
Ad Characters
Somehow, these goofy characters convinced us to buy their products.
Coca-Cola
Television Advertisements
This Library of Congress site covers a variety of television advertisements,
never-broadcast outtakes, and experimental footage reflecting
the historical development of television advertising for a major
commercial product.
Store Displays
1950's-1970's Grocery & Toy Store "shelf-talkers"
and displays.
Newspaper
& Magazine Ads
1940's-1970's: Cereal, food, premium, comics,
etc
AdFlip.com
Print Ads since 1940.
Propaganda
Posters
From Barnes and Noble.com, browse American, Communist, General
& Miscellaneous, Spanish Civil War, and War Bonds.
American
Propaganda Posters
Posters from World War II.
Sow
the Seeds of Victory!
Posters from the Food Administration During World War I from the
NARA.
Powers
of Persuasion
Poster Art of World War II from the NARA.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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."
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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.
back to list
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 "Weird Tales."
The
Pulp.net
Includes a history of the pulps, a Pulp Companion with plot devices,
"Behind the Shadow," and a pulp cover art gallery, as
well as popular pulp characters like The Shadow, Doc Savage, and
the Spider.
The Pulp Zone
Online reference to the golden age of pulp magazines: cover gallery,
heroes, stories, artist bios, and articles about pulp.
Hero
Pulps
Features links to unofficial sites for Doc Savage, The Spider,
Operator #5, G8 & his Battle Aces, the Avenger, and The Shadow.
Pulp
Magazines
Brief overviews of different pulp genres, including aviation,
romance, war, fantasy, and western pulps. Also includes Early
Pulps--from 1901.
Pulp
Fiction Central at the Vintage Library
Intro to pulp genres, heroes, author pages; also includes old-time
radio classics.
Pulp
Fiction Magazine Covers
Including all the classics: Gay Bar Slut, LSD Orgy, S&M Office
Girls, Plug-In Passion, Marijuana Girl, Las Vegas Lesbian, and
Pagan Lesbian.
The
George Kelley Paperback and Pulp Fiction Collection
From the University at Buffalo Library; includes adventure, detective/mystery,
erotic, horror, legal, science fiction, western, and war.
Women
in the Shadows
Lesbian pulp fiction from Duke University
Lesbian
Pulp Fiction Collection
From Mount Saint Vincent University
back to list
Radio
Since its inception, Radio
has been widely recognized as a tremendously potent force in American
culture. Radio began in 1895 when the young Italian inventor,
Guglielmo Marconi, took his wireless telegraph to England. Radio
in America has gone through three developmental stages--"the
pioneer period" from the 1890s through the mid-1920s, "the
golden age" of network programs in the 1930s and 1940s, and
the "television age" which began in the late 1840s and
is still in progress.
United
States Early Radio History
A comprehensive early history, concentrating on 1897-1927.
Surfing
the Aether--A Brief History of the Radio
These pages chronicle some of the events, inventions, and notable
moments that made radio what it is today.
Library
of American Broadcasting
At the University of Maryland
Old Time
Radio (OTR)
Source for the history of nostalgic and old time radio series
and news.
The Broadcast
Archive
Includes historical narratives, a look at some of the people that
built broadcasting, history of Local Programming, and information
on the Networks, and war radio stories.
History
of American Broadcasting
Comprehensive site, including--among many others--m eanings of
early call letters and a chronology of AM & FM broadcasting.
History
of Radio
Includes scientists, inventors, amateurs, government, corporations,
and programs.
Radio Hall
of Fame
Provides information on the history of radio and the people who
helped to shape its history.
American
Museum of Radio
Presenting the relationship between early investigations into
the phenomenon of electricity and the subsequent development of
radio.
History
of ABC Radio
The Birth of ABC Radio, Early Radio Programs, The War Years, News
Legislation, Post-War Expansion, The Sixties and Seventies, The
Eighties, Radio Programming, and Radio Australia.
About
NPR
History, How it Works, and Who Supports it.
Empire
of the Air
Ken Burns' PBS documentary: The Men who Made Radio.
Marconi
Calling
On-line museum dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi and based on the
Marconi companies early history.
The Mercury
Theatre on the Air
All of the surviving Mercury Theatre shows are available from
this page in RealAudio format (some are also in MP3 format)--including
The War of the Worlds.
The
War of the Worlds Script
ORSON WELLES AND MERCURY THEATRE ON THE AIR--SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30,
1938--8:00 TO 9:00 P.M.
Fibber
McGee and Molly
About, sound downloads, and show scripts.
Tulsa
Radio in the Fifties
Includes Radio Programs and Fifties Radio Memories.
YAHOO!
Directory Radio History
Links to radio history sites.
back to list
Popular
Religion & Self-Help
The study of popular religion
includes many of the central concerns of 20th century American
life: psychology, self-help, and therapeutic culture; consumerism;
race and ethnicity; gender and sexuality; apocalypticism; pluralism;
syncretism; and the interplay of the public and the private. Popular
religion holds several loosely-related traits: sentimentality,
syncretism, and a private orientation for example, as well as
constant tension between popular and institutional or official
religion.
Journal
of Religion & Popular Culture
Web-based, peer-reviewed journal committed to the academic exploration,
analysis and interpretation, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives,
of the interrelations and interactions between religion and religious
expression and popular culture.
Metareligion.com
A multidisciplinary view of the spiritual, search for religions.
Handbook
of Today's Religions
Including What is a Cult? Hare Krishna, The Unification Church/Moonies,
Astrology, Buddhism, and Sikhism, among many others.
The
Unification Church
The Homepage of the Moonies
Scientology
Official Church of Scientology Webpage.
BuddhaNet
Worldwide Buddhism Information and Education Network.
Krishna.com
According to the site, "here you'll find resources for self-realization,
God realization, and spiritual life as found in the teachings
of Lord Krishna."
The
Kabbalah Centre
Also known as the religion of Madonna and Britney Spears, this
site provides a complete guide to Kabbalah. Includes a large resource
center, history, study courses, and of course, an online store.
Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker
From Wikipedia.com
World Religions
and 101 Cults
Description and Personal Commentary of Religions, Cults, Sects,
Denominations, The Occult, Freemasonry, New Age, FBOs, Mind Sciences,
Ku Klux Klan.
YAHOO!
Cult Web Directory
Links to tons of sites about cults.
Astrology.com
Astrology and Horoscopes
Feng Shui Ultimate
Resource
Helping Feng Shui to shed its snake-oil-and-incense image.
SelfHelp
Magazine
"Read our articles, participate in one of our many discussion
forums, learn to manage your stress, use our 1000's of resources,
send postcards, meditate with us and subscribe to our newsletters.
"
Psychology
Self-Help Resources on the Internet
Contains links to non-commercial sites providing information and
help about specific disorders related to psychology.
YAHOO!
Self-help directory
Links to tons of self-help websites.
back to list
Science/Fantasy
Fiction
From the start, the American
science fiction tradition has been linked to the increasingly
visible role of communications media in our national culture.
The technological utopians, a group of late 19th-century social
reformers who wrote utopian fictions about future societies, often
saw improvements in communication as vitally linked to the restructuring
of the social order. Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1887),
for example, included speculations about credit cards and broadcasting.
Hugo Gernsback, founder of the American science fiction tradition,
was himself a key figure in promoting radio as a socially transforming
technology, and the earliest American science fiction appeared
alongside articles on amateur radio and popular science. The Gernsbackian
tradition reached its zenith at the 1939 New York World's Fair,
where corporations and governments sought to construct their own
visions of "the world of tomorrow," based on technological
utopian ideologies. The representations of technology, science,
and media in American science fiction grew darker in the wake
of the Second World War. Science fiction of the 1950s, including
works by Henry Kuttner, Cordwaner Smith, Frederik Pohl and C.M.
Kornbluth, offered satirical perspectives on the rise of television
and advertising. The 1960s saw the broadening of science fiction
to embrace new social and political visions and to reach new constituencies.
This period also saw the increased participation of women as both
readers and writers of science fiction, resulting in alternative
visions of utopian futures, grounded in transforming social relations
rather than changing technologies and in alternative conceptions
of media. Some of this fiction deployed a feminist critique of
the media's exploitation of women's bodies and emotions.
Science
Fiction from Wikipedia
History, Hard & Soft, genres, and fandom.
The
History of Science Fiction
A Chronological Survey
University
of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website
Includes a symbolism dictionary, online library, and links to
external sites.
Sci
Fi Top Lists
Top Movies, Television Shows, Books, etc.
The
Authorized Stanley Kubrick Website
Biography, Filmography, and Vision.
The Official
Star Wars Homepage
LucasArts own webpage dedicated to Star Wars. Almost as graphics
intensive as the movies themselves.
The
Official Star Trek Homepage
Includes information on upcoming episodes and general Trek information.
Dungeons
and Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Homepage
Art Gallery, Adventures, FAQs, rules, chatrooms, messageboards,
and character sheets.
History
of D&D
Features older versions of the roleplaying game.
The
Tolkien Society Links
Links to sites dealing with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The
Lord of the Ring Legend
Cultures, Characters, Places, Weapons and War.
The Lord
of the Rings Fanatics Library
Ages, Places, Races of Arda, Timelines, Family Trees, & Languages.
The
Official Harry Potter Website
Enroll at Hogwarts, try on the sorting hat, and begin your wizard
education...
Mugglenet
"The Ultimate Harry Potter Site": Quotes, excerpts,
mistakes, anagrams and chapter pictures.
Science
Fiction and Fantasy Research Database
An online index to over 60,000 historical and critical items about
science fiction, fantasy and horror.
YAHOO!
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Web Directory with tons of science fiction links.
Feminist
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Utopia
Bibliographies & Reviews, Research, Criticism & Teaching.
back to list
Sports
Sports have become a vital
part of American society and culture, although that was not always
the case. The Puritan hostility to games took the form of official
prohibition and even punishment. But the growth of recreation
began to take place at the end of the seventeenth century and
by the 19th century there was a wide diversity of athletic amusements
available. Sports have helped to shape American culture and sports
themselves have been shaped by American events that took place
outside the boxing ring, baseball diamond, and basketball court,
like industrialization, urbanization, race and racism. Sports
inform not only ideas of masculinity and femininity but help provide
the development of American national identity.
ESPN
Sports Century
Salute to the greatest North American athletes of the 20th century.
Hickok's
Sports History
H istory of all North American sports, champions, award winners,
Olympic gold medalists, record holders, and more.
SI.com
Video Almanac
Offers archived video clips of sports news stories from the 80's
and 90's.
Ancient
Olympics: The Real Story
Online exhibit from the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology.
Leather
Sleeves
The history of the award jacket.
America
at Play
Discover America's favorite pastimes, sports and hobbies at America's
Library.
StreetPlay
Stories and information about stickball, stoopball, boxball, ringoleavio,
and other street games played by kids in urban USA mid to late
20th century.
Ballparks.com
Basketball, Baseball, Football, Hockey, and Race Tracks past,
present, and future.
National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Official site with exhibits, research gallery, baseball history,
and of course, the Hall of Famers.
Former
Major League Baseball Stadiums
Links to stadiums that were.
Black Baseball.com
History, Players, Teams, and Museums/Resources.
Jackie
Robinson & Other Baseball Highlights 1860's-1960
The section entitled "Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie
Robinson, 1860s-1960s" is a time line in five section. The
"Early Baseball Pictures" section includes .34 photographs
and prints.
All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League
1943-1954; League History, Players Rosters, and Photographs.
Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame
Basketball History, Online Projects including Wilt Chamberlain's
100 point game, and Hall of Famers.
Harlem
Globetrotter History
Timeline with photos, dating back to the year the organization
played their first-ever game in 1927.
Pro Football
Hall of Fame
History, Enshrinement, and Hall of Famers.
College
Football Hall of Fame
Hall Tour and Hall of Famers.
Hockey
Hall of Fame
Time Capsule, Player Search, and Hockey Legends.
Nascar
History
Great Races, Decade by Decade, Top Drivers, and Evolution of the
Stock Car.
Directory
of Sportscasters
Comprehensive directory; links to biographies and/or official
sites.
Biographies
of well-known American Sportscasters
Includes a Hall of Fame, Facts & Trivia, & How to
Become a Sportscaster.
Nixon
and Sports
Study about the President's interest and political manipulation
of American sport. Includes photos, bibliography and a chronology.
College
& University Directory
Comprehensive link directory for nation's colleges & universities.
College
Nicknames
Directory of college nicknames and mascots.
Drugs
& Sports
Promotes anti-doping policies and preventing youth drug use through
sports. From the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
History
of Cheerleading in America
Reprinted from BCA's CHEER LEADER Magazine.
YAHOO!
Sports Directory
Tons of categories, tons of links.
back to list
Stage
Entertainment
The history of the theatre
in America begins early in the Eighteenth Century, about the time
the first rumblings were heard of the storm which was to break
the ties still holding the Colonies to the mother country.Yet
all the while that the European influence on the American theatre
was pronounced and inescapable, tentative efforts were being made
to achieve an entertainment basically American in style, spirit
and format. The first play written by an American and performed
in America by Professional Actors was The Prince of Parthia (1759)
by Thomas Godfrey. The Broadway Musical was born in 1866, when
William Wheatley staged the first show, called The Black Crook
during which the audience saw a drama, listened to the orchestra,
and were entertained by a hundred dancing gypsies visiting from
Paris. American theatre grew to include drama, melodrama, comic
opera, pantomime, extravaganza, satiric comedy, burlesques, and
musical theatre and comedy to create the American theatre that
we know today.
American
Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920
Included are 334 English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, 146
theater playbills and programs, 61 motion pictures, 10 sound recordings
and 143 photographs and 29 memorabilia items documenting the life
and career of Harry Houdini.
Vaudeville!
History, Development, and Evolution of Vaudeville Stage from it's
roots in variety theater and shows with Vaudeville movies, vaudeville
MP3's, and vaudeville hypertexts. From AS @ UVA.
Musicals101
Musical History, as wel as "special courses" on Broadway,
Vaudeville, and Musical Who's Whos.
Musical
Directory
Directory of musicals past and present.
Longest
Running Broadway Shows in History
Updated list of shows.
Looking
at the Business of Theatre
Considers American theatre at the turn of the century. From AS
@ UVA.
Ziegfeld
Girls Gallery
From Musicals101
Catharlia:
Theatres on postcards
Collection of old and new postcards of exterior and interior views
of theatres.
Radio
City Music Hall History
History of the Hall and the famous Rockettes.
Bob
Hope and American Variety
This Library of Congress site covers the life of entertainer Bob
Hope, including Early Life, Vaudeville, Bits & Sketches, Motion
Pictures, Radio, Television, On the Road: USO Shows, and Public
Service.
The
New Deal Stage
The Library of Congress selections from the Federal Theatre Project,
1935 to 1939, including photographs, posters, and scripts.
Federal
Theatre Project
Overview of the theatrical work program with information on some
of the well-known people involved.
Federal
Theatre Project Materials
Archive includes photos, transcripts, posters, and more.
Hallie
Flanagan Transcripts
Excerpts from Flanagan's 1938 appearance before the House Committee
on Un-American Activities.
Stagestruck!
Performing Arts Caricatures at the Library of Congress
During the early twentieth century, performing arts caricature
came of age as an art form in the United States as celebrities
of song, stage, and screen were transformed into popular icons
of American culture.
Theatre
History on the Web
Directory of useful resources for historians of ancient and modern
theatre. Maintained by Jack Wolcott.
Theatre
History.com: American Theatre
Directory of useful theatre resources including Actors, Musicals,
Plays, & Playwrights.
back to list
Stereotypes
& Slang
Slang
in the Great Depression
A study of slang during the Great Depression, including a first-cited
dictionary, and a look at New Deal, Soda Jerk, Hobo, Radio, Advertising,
Youth, Jazz and Drug Slang. From AS@UVA.
Hippy.com
A Trip through the 60's, Ask the Old Hippy, Hippy Quotes, Hippy
Glossaries, Hippies A-Z.
Dork
of the Day
The World's Online Dork Community; showcasing the biggest dork
of the day every day.
White
Trash World
Deep-fried and double wide.
White
Trash: The Construction of the American Scapegoat
An AS @ UVA Master's Thesis that examines working class whites
as a unique social culture.
White
Trash Recipes
7-Up Cakes and Chili Mac...mmm mmm mmm.
Mullets
Galore
Mullet of the Week, Classifications, Picturebooks, and Mullet
Hunting.
Ghetto
Fabulous Weddings
Ms. Claus gets her wedding on. Also check out Ghetto Fabulous
Hair.
Black
People Love Us.com
"We are well-liked by Black people so we're psyched (since
lots of Black people don't like lots of White people)!! We thought
it'd be cool to honor our exceptional status with a ROCKIN' domain
name and a killer website!!"
Urban
Dictionary.com
Fo' shizzle ma nizzle.
Wigga.org
"Dedicated to white kids who want to be black." Includes
a Wigga Dictionary.
Cliques
of 80's Teens
Summarize the different cliques that could be found in an eighties
high school.
ValleyURL
Translate ANY Site into Valley Girl Speak, like, totally!!
Stupid Jocks.com
Monitoring the Idiots in Sports.
back to list
Television
Television was not invented
by a single inventor, instead many people working together and
alone, contributed to the evolution of TV. In 1927, Bell Telephone
and the U.S. Department of Commerce conduct the first long distance
use of TV, between Washington D.C. and New York City on April
9th. In 1929 Vladimir Zworykin demonstrates the first practical
electronic system for both the transmission and reception of images
using his new kinescope tube. John Baird opens the first TV studio,
however, the image quality was poor. In 1930 Charles Jenkins broadcasts
the first TV commercial. The BBC begins regular TV transmissions.
It wasn't until the 1930s that private citizens began to own television
sets. In 1936 , about 200 hundred television sets are in use world-wide.
In 1937, CBS began TV development and the BBC begins high definition
broadcasts in London. From that point on, it was into the world
of color t.v., broadcast companies, commercials, sitcoms, made-for-t.v.
movies... you know the rest.
Television
History--The First 75 Years
With hardware, manuals, documents, magazines, books, toys, and
advertising.
TV is 75 (2002)
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the invention of television
in September 2002.
Vintage
TV Sets
Collection of vintage television sets built between 1946 and 1959.
TV Acres
Ultimate subject guide to television program facts.
TV
Tickets
Sizable ticket stub collection with commentary, culled from attending
live sitcom, game show, and talk show tapings across Hollywood.
Tulsa TV
Memories
Looks back at the local programming from the '50s to the '70s.
With pictures, commentary, and audio and video clips.
The
Classic TV Database
Your home for classic tv--complete with theme songs!
Classic
TV Shows of the 50's
Show Index.
Little
Gems
Dedicated to the children's television programmes that have long
faded into memory.
SausageNet
From Andy Pandy to Willo The Wisp, if you were a kid over the
last 30 years, then you'll remember these shows. Cult and classic
children's television nostalgia.
TV
Land--Retromercials
Offers a memorable look back at old classic TV commercials.
TV Party!
Includes video clips of classic TV shows, cut footage and rare
scenes, bloops and blunders, and commercials and jingles.
TV
Single Dads Hall of Fame
History of the single dad on television, 1952-present.
Soap
Opera Links
Your links to trash tv are right here.
Jump
the Shark
Jumping the shark is the moment when a television
show has reached its peak and its only downhill from there (when
the Fonz jumped the shark in "Happy Days"). Includes
reasons for jumping the shark, shows that have done so, and current
shark sightings.
YAHOO!
Television Show Directory
All Here. All Categorized.
back to list
Web
Culture
With the inception of the
internet, the World Wide Web community has developed a pop culture
of its own.
Home
Star Runner
Cartoons, games and more on this funny flash site.
The Onion
An award-winning satirical publication.
Fark.com
It's not news, it's Fark.com
Slashdot.org
News for nerds. Stuff that matters.
BadgerBadgerBadger
Flash animation with badgers, mushrooms, and snakes. Its all wrong.
Rathergood.com
Home of the Viking Kittens.
I
Liek Milk
Hitoshi's site.
All
Your Base Are Belong to Us
Story of the Internet Phenomenon.
The
Western
The idea of "The West"
reaches as far back to the beginning of America. Studying the
west provides a definition of "frontier" and the role
the frontier plays in shaping an American identity in literature;
the distinction between the West as a place or landscape and the
West as a symbol; the mythic western hero and the roles he and/or
she plays in the formation of American values including our sense
of justice, independence, community; amd the defining and re-defining
of "masculinity" and "femininity" as those
cultural terms are used in the movement west. Whether referring
to the popular frontier novels or "spaghetti western"
films, the term "Western" is American Popular Culture's
way of continuing the idea of "the frontier."
American
West.com
A Presentation of the History and Development of the American
West
New
Perspectives on The West
An eight-part documentary series which premiered on PBS stations
in September 1996.
Spaghetti
Westerns in America
Describes the genre, and includes links to TV listings, images,
and more.
Wild
East Productions Spaghetti Western
Includes history, images, posters, and critical synopsis of Spaghetti
Westerns.
Spaghetti
Western Poster Page
Includes images, film facts, and ordering information.
Top
50 Western Films
From IMDB.com
Western
TV Show Web Directory
From Yahoo!
Cowboy Pal
F eaturing Silver Screen Cowboys of the 30's, 40's and 50's.
Historical
Links
From Cowboy.com
COWBOYS
- VAQUEROS
Origins Of The First American Cowboys.
Dime
Novels and Penny Dreadfuls
From Stanford, a guided tour and timeline of this popular 19th
century literary genre.
Dime
Novels
An American Treasures Exhibit from the Library of Congress.
Dime
Novel Cover Art Gallery
Syracuse University Street & Smith's Preservation and Access
Project.
James
Fenimore Cooper: A Literary Pioneer
From AS @ UVA. About the author and his Natty Bumppo character.
Life
and Adventures of Calamity Jane by Herself
With Illustrations.
back to list
|
Last update
January, 2004
Return |
