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In a hurry? Save or print these Collection Connections as a single file.
Go directly to the collection, Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.
One can use Prosperity and Thrift to enhance one's understanding
of literature by drawing connections between the collection and major
literary works and social commentaries of the 1920s. The collection
also affords users the opportunity to examine techniques of writing
and oration, and selections from the collection may be used as a springboard
for writing activities.
Literature
Side
View of a Ford Sedan, 1923. |
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Studying Prosperity and Thrift in conjunction
with literature and social commentaries about the 1920s will bring
the age of flappers and Fords to life. This context will help you
to better understand the meaning and relevance of these works. Literature
that may be enhanced by the study of this collection includes Sinclair
Lewis’ Babbitt (1922), F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great
Gatsby (1925), and Theodore Dreiser’s Tragic America
(1931). Pertinent social commentaries include H.L. Mencken’s critical
appraisal of political leaders and economic policies in The American
Mercury, and Richard Wright’s The Ethics of Jim Crow: An
Autobiographical Sketch. Consider the following questions as
you compare the literature with the collection: |
- How does the work reflect the economic and social policies of the 1920s?
- What areas of society doesn't the work address? Why?
Language and Technique
The dual format of Coolidge's speeches,
presented as both audio recordings and transcriptions, affords the
opportunity to evaluate techniques of speech-writing and oration.
Search Coolidge Speeches,
Recordings, or one of the following speeches by name: Law
and Order (Audio) (Text),
Duty of Government (Audio) (Text),
Equal Rights (Audio) (Text),
or America and the War (Audio Only).
Select one or more of the President’s addresses, listen to the audio
recording as you read the transcript, and evaluate the speech by
asking:
- How effective is his presentation?
- To whom does the speech appeal?
- What imagery is used in the speech?
- To what extent is the speech illustrative of Coolidge’s character?
- Are there any lines from the speech that would resonate today?
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President
Coolidge Addressing Crowd,
Arlington National Cemetery, 1924.
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Expository Writing
High School Girls Learn the Art of Automobile Mechanics.
Washington, DC, 1927.
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Calvin Coolidge had a reputation for
being somber and reserved. Search Photographs
for a variety of pictures of the President and select images of
the President that show him in a somewhat different light. Write
an essay on how photographs may be used to create or change a public
image, incorporating selected photographs to illustrate your perspective.
Students can also search for other photographs (such as the one on the left) and discuss how images may be used to influence public opinions. What message would this image have communicated?
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President
Coolidge on the Farm,
Plymouth, Vermont, between 1923 and 1928. |
Persuasive Writing
| You can practice persuasive writing
by taking a position on one of several issues illustrated in the
collection. For example, throughout Calvin Coolidge’s presidency,
his likeness and comments were used to sell a variety of products
without his permission. A search on Advertisement
Exploitation locates correspondence regarding ads that irritated
the president and examples of several questionable advertisements.
Defend or reject the notion that since Calvin Coolidge was a public
figure, it was acceptable for his name to have been used in advertising.
In an article by Jason Joy entitled
"Nation-Wide Saturday Morning Movies,” Will Hays, the head
of the Motion Picture Distributors of America, guaranteed that
children going to movie theaters on Saturday morning would enjoy
wholesome entertainment.
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One
of the Advertisements Deemed "Disgraceful" by Coolidge's Secretary.
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The very best sort of movies will be displayed for the
youngsters. . . . Parents and guardians may send their children to these
performances with complete confidence that what they see will be altogether
wholesome and beneficial. Ever since motion pictures became a familiar
public service institution, there has been talk of a so-called problem,
‘What of the Child and the Movie?’ This arrangement, the Saturday morning
movie, is the complete answer to the situation.
"Nation-Wide Saturday Morning Movies"
The Playground: Selected Articles from 1925
An article from the September 1924 issue of The Playground
entitled,
"Should Children Go to the Movies?" estimates that 90 percent of
school children between ages seven and fourteen go to films on a regular
basis. Questions of content take a backseat to the negative health effects
of the movie-going experience:
Motion pictures may exert a bad effect on the immature nervous system of the child.
The brain in young children is very immature, and it and the nerves should be very carefully
protected. Children who night after night gaze open-mouthed at exciting episodes and thrilling
escapes become peevish and irritable. They have restless nights and nightmares.
Choose one of these quotes (either a critique of content or the movie-going
experience itself) and defend or reject the validity of the statement
as either a parent or a child of the era.
Advertising
Frame from Theater Commercial for Flash Cleaner. |
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The following two points appear in Claude
Hopkins’
Scientific Advertising:
[C]uriosity is one of the strongest human incentives. We employ it wherever we can. Puffed
Wheat and Puffed Rice were made successful largely through curiosity. “Grains puffed to 8 times
normal size.” “Foods shot from guns.” “125 million steam explosions caused in every kernel.”
These foods were failures before that factor was discovered.
Page 29
Scientific Advertising
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Toasted Corn Flakes and Malted Milk are examples of unfortunate names. In each of those cases
an advertiser created a new demand. When the demand was created, others shared it because they
could use the name. The originators depended only on a brand. It is interesting to speculate
on how much more profitable a coined name might have been.
Page 96
Scientific Advertising
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| Use these passages as a focal point for a discussion
on advertising and its techniques. Demonstrate your understanding
while practicing writing skills by choosing a real or imaginary
product and creating an effective advertisement based on these two
guidelines. |
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