LibGuides: Research Topic Starters: Early 1900s daily life in rural United States

Logging in from Off Campus

If you are off campus you will need to log in to access library resources.

When prompted, log in with the following credentials:

USERNAME: Use your Student ID # (7 digits)

PASSWORD: Your last name in ALL CAPS

If you are unsuccessful logging in, see libguides.stcc.edu/LoginSupport

Print Books

Born in the Country by David B. Danbom
ISBN: 9781421423357

Publication Date: 2017-09-15

The definitive history of life in rural America. Throughout most of its history, America has been a rural nation, largely made up of farmers. David B. Danbom's Born in the Country was the first--and still is the only--general history of rural America. Ranging from pre-Columbian times to the enormous changes of the twentieth century, the book masterfully integrates agricultural, technological, and economic themes with new questions about the American experience. Danbom employs the stories of particular farm families to illustrate the experiences of rural people.
The Routledge History of Rural America by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg (Editor)
ISBN: 9781138482890

Publication Date: 2018-01-24

The Routledge History of Rural America charts the course of rural life in the United States, raising questions about what makes a place rural and how rural places have shaped the history of the nation. Bringing together leading scholars to analyze a wide array of themes in rural history and culture, this text is a state-of-the-art resource for students, scholars, and educators at all levels. This Routledge History provides a regional context for understanding change in rural communities across America and examines a number of areas where the history of rural people has deviated from the American mainstream. Readers will come away with an enhanced understanding of the interplay between urban and rural areas, a knowledge of the regional differences within the rural United States, and an awareness of the importance of agriculture and rural life to American society.
The American Pageant, Volume 1 by David M. Kennedy; Lizabeth Cohen
Call Number: E178.1.B152 2013

ISBN: 9781111831424

Publication Date: 2012-01-01

THE AMERICAN PAGEANT enjoys a reputation as one of the most popular, effective, and entertaining texts in American history. The colorful anecdotes, first-person quotations, and trademark wit bring American history to life. The Fifteenth edition includes markedly deeper explorations of the cultural innovations, artistic movements, and intellectual doctrines that have engaged and inspired Americans and shaped the course of American history. Additional features of THE AMERICAN PAGEANT help readers understand and master the content: part openers and chapter-ending chronologies provide a context for the major periods in American history, while other features present primary sources, scholarly debates, and key historical figures for analysis.
American History by Michael Meyer
Call Number: E178.1.A49245 2003

ISBN: 0737707089

Publication Date: 2002-07-01

This anthology traces the political and social developments in America from the colonial era through the Civil War. Topics covered include relations between Native Americans and early explorers, the creation of the U.S. Constitution, slavery in antebellum America, and the role of women in the Civil War. This fascinating collection reveals the complexity of life in America during the nation's birth and troubled early years.
The Shaping of America by Donald W. Meinig
Call Number: E178.M57 1986

ISBN: 0300035489

Publication Date: 1986-03-11
The landmark history of the American people from Appomattox to the moon by Daniel J. Boorstin
Call Number: E178.3.B752 1970

In this lively, authoratative, and above all inspiring introduction to American History, Boorstin focuses on people, recounting how men and women, fired by heart and spirit, traveled from all corners of the globe to America and become its people. A tribute to America's shared heritage, this book is itself a heritage that every family will want to share, again and again.
Just Queer Folks: Gender and Sexuality in Rural America by Colin R. Johnson
ISBN: 1439909989

Publication Date: 2013-06-14

Uncovering the history of gender and sexual nonconformity in rural America during the first half of the twentieth century

eBooks

Please Note: You will need to scroll down and click the link "Springfield - Students, faculty and staff click here to access book" in order to access the first two eBooks in the list below.

The Making of the American Dream by Lewis E. Kaplan
ISBN: 9780875866956

Publication Date: 2009-01-01

This 2-volume work, covering America''s first 300 years, differs from others in seeking to debunk numerous flattering and conventionally accepted myths. Reading between the lines of what we''ve all been taught as US history, the author probes a little deeper into what perhaps was never denied but was never spelled out, either. Some inconvenient questions emerge. Was lust for land the driving force behind every war in US history? In a lively narrative, Kaplan demonstrates that in many ways Lincoln was our worst wartime president (save Madison), and that Reconstruction was doomed from the start. The author describes how an agricultural hinterland evolved into an industrial colossus and a society of small towns grew into a nation of large cities. When it did, what had once been the world's leading republican government gradually edged towards becoming a democracy, a form of government abjured by the Founding Fathers.The War Between the States and the rapid industrialization of the North was made possible by tapping the vast resources which lay underneath the land.
The Fundamental Institution by Megan Birk
ISBN: 9780252053375

Publication Date: 2022-04-12

By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection between agriculture, provisions for the disadvantaged, and the daily realities of life at poor farms. Conceived as an inexpensive way to provide care for the indigent, poor farms in fact attracted wards that ranged from abused wives and the elderly to orphans, the disabled, and disaster victims. Most people arrived unable rather than unwilling to work, some because of physical problems, others due to a lack of skills or because a changing labor market had left them behind. Birk blends the personal stories of participants with institutional histories to reveal a loose-knit system that provided a measure of care to everyone without an overarching philosophy of reform or rehabilitation. In-depth and innovative, The Fundamental Institution offers an overdue portrait of rural social welfare in the United States.
Nursing Rural America by John Kirchgessner (Editor); Arlene W. Keeling (Editor)
ISBN: 9780826196156

Publication Date: 2014-01-01

"This book offers an interesting historical backdrop to nursing in rural parts of the US. Each of the nine chapters presents an individual case study from a different geographic area and focuses on a different ethnic population"
The Future of Road-making in America A Symposium by Archer Butler Hulbert and others
Publication Date: 1905

"The Future of Road-making in America" by Archer Butler Hulbert is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. The work presents a comprehensive exploration of the pressing road-building issues in America, emphasizing the need for improvements in rural roads and their impact on society, agriculture, and the economy. This symposium includes contributions from various experts, each addressing different aspects of road-making and its significance to the rural populace and the nation as a whole. The opening of this work establishes a critical context for the road-making discussion in the United States, highlighting the current inadequacies in rural infrastructure and its negative effects on farmers and communities. It presents compelling statistics, such as the debt of farmers forced to bear the financial burden of poor roads while remaining distanced from railroads. Notable figures express their concerns regarding the social, educational, and economic losses resulting from inadequate road systems, illustrating how poor roads can lead to diminished community ties, lower school attendance, and social isolation.

Articles

Journal Articles

“The Burdens and the Narrow Life of Farm Women”: Women, Gender, and Theodore Roosevelt's Commission On Country Life by Edith M. Ziegler, Agricultural History, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Summer 2012)
Plains Women: Rural Life in the 1930s by Dorothy Schwieder, Deborah Fink, Great Plains Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2 (SPRING 1988)
Child labor in the early sugar beet industry in the great plains, 1890-1920, by Mary Lyons-Barrett
Great Plains Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1 (WINTER 2005)
"The More They Listen, the More They Buy" Radio and the Modernizing of Rural America, 1930-1939
Steve Craig, Agricultural History, Vol. 80, No. 1 (Winter, 2006)
Reformers and the Rural Church, 1900-1950, James H. Madison, The Journal of American History, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Dec., 1986)

Web Articles

History of child labor in the United States—part 1: little children working, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2017
Power from the people: Rural Electrification brought more than lights, Natural Museum of American History, By Harold D. Wallace Jr., February 12, 2016

Primary Sources

Rural Life in the Late 19th Century, U.S. History Primary Source Timeline from the Library of Congress - multiple primary source documents are linked at the bottom of the webpage

Reports

Black Farmers in America, 1865-2000 The Pursuit of Independent Farming and the Role of Cooperatives, report from the United States Department of Agriculture

Research Topic Starters