Primary sources give us an excellent idea of what people in a given time period were producing and periodicals in particular (like newspapers produced daily or magazine produced weekly or monthly) can provide us a greater sense of the everyday cultural conversation compared to “high art” highlights we find in paintings and novels.
These everyday voices are numerous – so numerous it can feel overwhelming once we start to research them.
This assignment aims to bring the everyday voices of the primary sources found in the periodicals of 1900 in a manageable way and in a way that helps us pool our resources as a class.
Your assignment is to find one primary source from a single periodical of the period. Eligible primary sources include any single, original article, essay, short story, poem, illustration, or photograph published in a periodical between the years 1895 and 1905.
Students should begin their search for a primary source early in the semester.
The following are good quality archives of important periodicals in the U.S. published during the years eligible for this project.
It is not an inclusive list; other major newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Chicago Tribune for example also offer online archives dating back to the same time period.
Scientific American: https://archive.org/details/scientific-american-1845-1909
The Century: http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/c/cent/cent.html
Ladies’ Home Journal: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000059808
Saturday Evening Post: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=satevepost
Harper’s: https://harpers.org/archive/
The Atlantic Monthly: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=atlantic
Remember, this time period meant many aspects of American life were segregated, including publishing. A selection of newspapers published by and for African Americans c. 1900 may be accessed here:
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/?state=nicity=African+American&language
Consider also using the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America project created in conjunction with the NEH (the National Endowment for the Humanities) – here is a sample search of the eligible years and the general topic of ‘Native American’ yeilding more than 15,000 artifacts (!) :
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=1895&date2=1905&proxtext=native+american&x=0&y=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic
Explore the search function on your own by keeping the date field the same and altering the subject and/or state of interest.
Once selected, students should make or download a good quality copy (print or digital) of the source and begin familiarizing themselves with the artifact in detail as well as learning at least a little about the context of the periodical where it appeared.
Students are responsible for completing a one-page annotated bibliography for their chosen primary periodical source.
An annotated bibliographic entry includes the full MLA citation information for the source, an overview of the source content, a statement of the source’s historical, cultural and/or artistic significance, and at least one key quotation, passage or illustrative detail that demonstrates this significance.
Length should be one full typed page in MLA format.
