Abby Hazen

Proposal

   Focus

The title which I am going to be looking at in my project is art in America in 1876 and how art affected the students of Dickinson College. I am going to be looking at popular art forms seen in the everyday life of Americans; the two most prominent of the time period were fashion and cartoons. Both held great political affiliations which would influence the students at Dickinson College. Perhaps my most focused question would be how the minority, (women and immigrants) fit into Dickinson College with the evidence coming from art.

Significance

Though scholars have looked at popular culture in America I have not found any information which specifically concentrates on art in 1876 as a means of popular culture and how it affected college students of the time. While I have come across books and articles which look at cartoons or fashion as a means of political expression I have not come across a secondary source which looks at how these two means of expression affected the youth of America in 1876.

Context

The broader picture of my project is popular culture in America in 1876. Two books are going to be very helpful in creating this context for my project. The books are An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Cultural by John Storey and Popular Culture in American History by Jim Cullen. The first book outlines what popular culture is, and the types of popular culture there are. From this book I was able to narrow my concentration of popular culture in to art. Then subdividing that subject I found cartoons and fashion to be important political devices. Cartoons loudly demonstrate popular opinions such as opinions regarding immigration. Fashion, particularly for women demonstrates women’s role in society. For example in 1870 as women pressed for greater rights their fashion changed to a “ladylike” dress which was practical for working in outside the home. Boots also became more popular as they were more practical for women to work in than the previously popular heel. Jim Cullen’s book gives an outline of popular culture throughout American history, allowing context for before and after 1876 and how art changed though-out this time period.

Methodology

The sources I have first looked at are secondary sources which give detailed overviews of popular culture, fashion and political cartoons. I have also been looking at Harper’s Magazine which gives a good idea of the material college students were exposed to. As for primary sources I am hoping to look at yearbooks and other student editorials from campus. I am hoping to also find pictures of students at the time and look at the students political opinions through looking at meeting minuets. I am hoping to look at local newspapers of 1876 in the Cumberland County archives to see if political cartoons appeared and if they did their political affiliation and how the opinion expressed was reflected in the community.

Bibliography

Baumgarten. Linda. What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002.

Bunker, Gary L. “The Art of Condensation: Postbellum Caricature and Woman Suffrage.” Common- Place. 7, no.3.

Cameron, Ardis. “Cultures of Belonging: Women, Popular Culture, and Activism.” Journal of Women’s History. 18, no.4 (2006): 128-139.

Crayon, Porte. “Confessions of a Candidate.” Harpers New Monthly Magazine. 309, no. 52 (February 1876): 329-346.

Cullen, Jim ed. Popular Culture in American History. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2001.

Cullen, Jim ed. The Civil War in Popular Culture. Washington: Smithsonian Intuitional Press, 1995.

Cunningham, Patricia A. Reforming Women’s Fashion, 1850-1920. Kent: The Kent State University Press, 2003.

Dawson, Melanie. Laboring to Play: Home Entertainment and the Spectacle of Middle-Class Cultural Life, 1850-1920. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2005.

Fernandez, Nancy Page. “Selling Style: Clothing and Social Change at the Turn of the Century/ Reforming Women’s Fashion, 1850-1920: Politics, Health, and Art.” The Journal of American History. 91, no. 2 (September 2004): 655-657.

Lamb, Chris. “Drawing Power: The Limits of Editorial Cartoons in America.” Journalism Studies. 8, no.5(2007): 715-729.

Martin, Francis Jr., “To Ignore is to Deny: E.W Kemble’s Racial Caricature as Popular Art.” Journal of Popular Culture. 40, no. 49 (August 2007): 655-693.

Nevins, Allen, and Frank Weitenkampf. A Century of Political Cartoons. New York: Charles Scrinber’s Sons, 1944.

Rich, Paul, and Guillermo De Los Reyes, “Mexican Caricature and the Politics of Popular Culture.” Journal of Popular Culture. 30, no. 1 (Summer 1996): 133-146.

Severa, Joan L. Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900. Kent: The Kent State University Press, 1995.

Schorman, Rob. Selling Style: Clothing and Social Change at the Turn of the Century. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

Storey, John. An Introductory Guide to Culture and Theory and Popular Culture. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1993.