MC 582 HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION SEMINAR
Instructor: David Sloan
Office: Phifer 402c - Phone 348-8612
Office hours: M noon - 3:30 p.m.; W noon -1:00 p.m.
Historical Research Project
Each student will research and write an original paper on a topic from mass communication history. A substantial portion of the course will be devoted to the study of historical research methods and the student paper.
Course Reading Assignments
Students will read a chapter from the textbook and analyze two journal articles or book excerpts for each of several topics covered in the course. For each article or excerpt, each student is to submit a brief (approx. 1/2 page) report answering the following questions:
1) What is the central theme (the conclusion, not a general statement of the subject or topic) of the work?
2) What is the author’s school of interpretation (underlying historical assumptions)?
How does the work demonstrate the perspective of that school?
3) How adequate is the author’s research? Explain your evaluation. How could it be improved?
4) What questions for additional significant historical study are raised or left unanswered by the author?
Textbooks
Wm. David Sloan, Perspectives in Mass Communication History (1991) (indicated in the list of readings as Perspectives).
Wm. David Sloan and Michael Stamm, Historical Methods in Mass Communication (2010)
(indicated in the list of readings as “Historical Methods”)
Wm. David Sloan, ed., The Media in America: A History, 8th ed. (2011) (indicated in the list of readings as “Media in America”).
All these books are available in our College’s Reading Room at one-half the retail price. The
Reading Room keeps all proceeds.
Other Readings
Other readings will be available on reserve in the Communication Reading Room.
Course Schedule
Class 1 - August 28
Introduction to course
Importance of the study of mass communication history

Student research paper assignment (discussion, requirements, possibilities)
The nature of historical research
Historical Methods, Ch. 3, “The Fundamentals of ‘Good’ History”
Research Methods: Selecting a Topic
Historical Methods, Ch. 4, “Basic Procedures and Techniques”
September 4 - NO CLASS: Labor Day
Class 2 - September 11
Research Methods: Collecting Resource Material
Historical Methods, Ch. 5, “Searching for Historical Materials”
The nature of the study of history:
Historical Methods, Ch.1, “The Nature of History”
Ch. 2, “The Study of History: Interpretation or Truth?” in Perspectives.
Introduction to historical interpretation
Grob, Gerald N., and George Athan Billias, eds., Ch. 1, “Introduction,” 1-17, Interpretations
of American History, Vol. 1 (1967).
Higham, John, Ch. 1, “The Construction of American History,” 9-24, The Reconstruction of
American History (1962).
Nevins, Allan, “New Lamps for Old in History,” American Archivist 17 (January 1954): 4-12.
Historical interpretations of mass communication
Ch. 1, “Perspectives in Mass Communication History,” in Perspectives.
Class 3 - September 18
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: preliminary ideas and literature review)
Research Methods: Analyzing Data
Historical Methods, Ch. 6, “Historical Sources and Their Evaluation”
The Colonial Press, 1690-1765: Mirror of Society or Origin of Journalism?
Perspectives, Ch. 3.
Avery, Donald, Ch. 3, “The Colonial Press, 1690-1765,” 35-48, in Media in America.
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Parton, James, Ch. 7, “The First Sensation Paper,” 72-96, Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
(1864).
Shaaber, Matthias A., “Forerunners of the Newspaper in America,” Journalism Quarterly 11
(1934): 339-47.
Kobre, Sidney, “The First American Newspaper: A Product of Environment,” Journalism
Quarterly 17 (1940): 335-45.
Class 4 - September 25
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: ideas, annotated bibliography, statement of topic’s significance)
American Revolutionary Printers, 1765-1783: Powerful Radicals or Ineffective Conservatives?
Perspectives, Ch. 4.
Humphrey, Carol, Ch. 4, “The Revolutionary Press, 1765-1783,” 49-66, in Media in America.
Dickerson, O. M., “British Control of American Newspapers on the Eve of the Revolution,”
New England Quarterly 24 (1951): 455-68.
Bailyn, Bernard, Ch. 1, “The Literature of Revolution,” 1-21, Ideological Origins of the
American Revolution (1965).
Steirer, William F., Jr., “A Study in Prudence: Philadelphia’s ‘Revolutionary’ Journalists,”
Journalism History 3 (1976): 16-19.
The Party Press, 1783-1833: Political Sycophant or Party Leader?
Perspectives, Ch. 5.
Sloan, Wm. David, Ch. 5, “The Party Press, 1783-1833,” 67-92, in Media in America.
Smith, William E., “Francis P. Blair, Pen-Executive of Andrew Jackson,” Mississippi Valley
Historical Review 17 (March 1931): 543-56.
Mott, Frank Luther, Ch. 9, “The Dark Ages of Partisan Journalism,” 167-80, American
Journalism: A History of Newspapers in the United States through 250 Years, 1690 to 1940 (1941).
Baldasty, Gerald J., “The Press and Politics in the Age of Jackson,” Journalism Monographs 89
(1984).
Class 5 - October 2
Freedom of the Press, 1690-1800: Libertarian or Limited?
Perspectives, Ch. 6.
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Blanchard, Margaret, Ch. 6, “Freedom of the Press, 1690-1804,” 93-120, in Media in America.
Lossing, Benjamin J., “Freedom of the Press Vindicated,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 57
(July 1878): 293-98.
Levy, Leonard, “Introduction,” xlviii-lxi in Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson (1966).
Teeter, Dwight, “The Printer and the Chief Justice...,” Journalism Quarterly 45 (1968): 235-42.
Women in Media, 1700-Present: Victims or Equals?
Perspectives, Ch. 7.
Endres, Kathleen. xxx
Jackson, George Stuyvesant, “Anne Royall vs. Washington, D.C.,” 90-131, Uncommon Scold:
The Story of Anne Royall (1937).
Henry, Susan, “Colonial Woman Printer as Prototype: Toward a Model for the Study of
Minorities,” Journalism History 3 (1976): 20-24.
Belford, Barbara. Brilliant Bylines: A Biographical Anthology of Notable Newspaper Women in
America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986. chap. ? xxx
Class 6 - October 9
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: research prospectus; author’s interpretation)
The Frontier Press, 1800-1900: Personal Journalism or Paltry Business?
Perspectives, Ch. 8.
Huntzicker, William, Ch. 10, “The Frontier Press, 1800-1900,” 173-196, in Media in America.
Watson, Elmo S., “The Last Indian War, 1890-91—A Study of Newspaper Jingoism,”
Journalism Quarterly 20 (1943): 205-19.
Beebe, Lucius, “Season in the Sun,” 21-39, Comstock Commotion: The Story of the Territorial
Enterprise (1954).
Housman, Robert L. "The End of Frontier Journalism in Montana." JQ 12 (1935): 133-45. ?? xxx
Reed, Delbert, “A Last Hurrah for the Frontier Press,” American Journalism 6 (1989), 65-85.
The Penny Press, 1833-1861: Product of Great Men or Natural Forces?
Perspectives, Ch. 9.
Buchholz, Michael, Ch. 7, “The Penny Press, 1833-1861,” 121-140, in Media in America.
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Pray, Isaac C., Ch. 14, “The War of Journalism,” 197-213, Memoirs of James Gordon Bennett
and His Times (1855).
Hudson, Frederic, Ch. 27, “The New York Herald,” 428-55, Journalism in the United States,
From 1690 to 1872 (1873).
Hale, William Harlan, Ch. 6, “Utopian,” 91-107, Horace Greeley, Voice of the People (1950).
Schudson, Michael, Ch. 1, “The Revolution in American Journalism in the Age of
Egalitarianism: The Penny Press,” 12-60, Discovering the News: A Social History of American
Newspapers (1978).
Class 7 - October 16
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: paper’s theme; report on research accomplished)
Research Methods: Drawing Conclusions
Historical Methods, Ch. 7, “Explanation in History”
The Antebellum Press, 1827-1861: Effective Abolitionist or Reluctant Reformer?
Perspectives, Ch. 10.
Tripp, Bernell, Ch. 7, “The Antebellum Press, 1820-1861,” 141-156, in Media in America.
Greenwood, Grace, “An American Salon,” Cosmopolitan 8 (1890): 437-47.
Kraditor, Aileen S., Ch. 1, “Introduction,” and Ch. 2, “The Abolitionist as Agitator,” 3-38,
Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics,
1834-1850 (1967).
Harrold, Stanley, Ch. 1, “Benevolence,” 1-11, Gamaliel Bailey and Antislavery Union (1986).
The Civil War Press, 1861-1865: Promoter of Unity or Neutral Reporter?
Perspectives, Ch. 11.
Endres, Kathleen, Ch. 7, “The Press and the Civil War, 1861-1865” 157-172, in Media in
America.
Villard, Henry, “Army Correspondence: Its History,” The Nation 1 (July 27, 1865), 79-81, 114-
16, 144-46.
Randall, James G., “The Newspaper Problem in Its Bearing upon Military Secrecy During the Civil War,” American Historical Review 23 (January 1918): 303-23.
Starr, Louis M., Ch. 1, “The News Revolution,” 3-29, Bohemian Brigade: Civil War Newsmen in
Action (1954).
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Class 8 - October 23
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: report on structure, direction, and shape paper is taking)
The Black Media, 1865-Present: Liberal Crusaders or Defenders of Tradition?
Perspectives, Ch. 12.
Detweiler, Frederick G. The Negro Press in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1922. xxx
Tripp, Bernell. xxx Origins of the Black Press.
Finkle, Lee. Forum for Protest: The Black Press During World War II. Cranbury, N.J.: Farleigh
Dickinson University Press, 1975. xxx
Tinney, James S., and Justine J. Rector, eds., Ch. 1, “Introduction,” and Ch. 2, “Black
Newspapers and Other Journals,” 1-24, Issues and Trends in Afro-American Journalism (1980).
Teel, Leonard Ray, “W.A. Scott and the Atlanta World,” American Journalism 6 (1989): 158-78.
The Industrial Press, 1865-1883: Professional Journalism or Pawn of Urbanism?
Perspectives, Ch. 13.
Smythe, Ted C., Ch.11, “The Press and Industrial America, 1865-1883,” 197-220, in Media in
America.
Payne, George Henry, “After-war Problems and Reform,” 347-59 in History of Journalism in
the United States (1920).
Stewart, Kenneth, and John Tebbel, “Dana and Godkin,” 72-85 in Makers of Modern
Journalism (1952).
Hart, Jack R., “Horatio Alger in the Newsroom: Social Origins of American Editors,”
Journalism Quarterly 53 (1976): 14-20.
Class 9 - October 30
New Journalism, 1883-1900: Social Reform or Professional Progress?
Perspectives, Ch. 14.
Everett, George, Ch. 12, “The Age of New Journalism, 1883-1900,” 2221-246, in Media in
America.
Seitz, Don. C., Ch. 6, “The ‘New World’—1883-1885,” 129-54, Joseph Pulitzer: His Life and
Letters (1924).
Emery, Edwin, “William Randolph Hearst: A Tentative Appraisal,” Journalism Quarterly 28
(1951): 429-39.
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Smythe, Ted Curtis, “The Reporter, 1880-1900. Working Conditions and Their Influence on
News,” Journalism History 7 (1980): 1-10.
Kobre xxx
Modern Journalism, 1900-1945: Working Profession or Big Business?
Perspectives, Ch. 15.
Beasley, Maurine, Ch. 15, “The Emergence of Modern Media, 1900-1945,” 281-300, in Media
in America.
Seldes, George, Ch. 6, “Lord Howard and His Empire,” 76-86, Lords of the Press (1938).
Johnson, Gerald W. Prologue: “A Discourse on Titans,” 1-12, An Honorable Titan (1946).
Morris, Joe Alex, Ch. 1 (untitled), 17-31, and Ch. 34 (untitled), 337-39, Deadline Every Minute:
The Story of the United Press (1957).
Brazil, John, “Murder Trials, Murder, and Twenties America,” American Quarterly (1981):
163-84.
Individual student conferences on research paper (to be done outside class)
Class 10 - November 6
Research Methods: Mechanics of Writing Research Papers and Articles
Historical Methods, Ch. 8, “Writing”
Public Relations, 1900-1950: Tool for Profit or for Social Reform?
Perspectives, Ch. 16.
Miller, Karen S., Ch. 22, “Public Relations, 1900-present,” 417-434, in Media in America.
Bernays, Edward L., “The Era of Integration, 1941-1951,” 115-25, Public Relations (1952).
Hiebert, Ray Eldon, Ch. 10, “Public Relations for Public Utilities,” 86-93, Courier to the
Crowd: The Story of Ivy Lee and the Development of Public Relations (1966).
Tedlow, Richard S., Ch. 2, “Up from Press Agentry,” 25-57, Keeping the Corporate Image:
Public Relations and Business, 1900-1950 (1979).
Advertising, 1900-Present: Capitalist Tool or Economic Necessity?
Perspectives, Ch. 17.
Roche, Bruce, Ch. 21, “Modern Advertising, 1900-present,” 399-416, in Media in America.
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Presbrey, Frank, Ch. 56, “The ‘Cleaning Up’ of Advertising and Good Effect Thereof,” 531-
40, The History and Development of Advertising (1929).
Hower, Ralph, Ch. 17, “Development of Organization and Management,” 460-96, The
History of an Advertising Agency (1949).
Potter, David M., Ch. 8, “The Institution of Abundance: Advertising,” 166-88, People of
Plenty: Economic Abundance and the American Character (1954).
Ewen, Stewart, Ch. 3, “Advertising’s Truth,” 69-76, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and
the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (1976).
Class 11 - November 13
Mass Magazines, 1900-Present: Serious Journalism or Mass Entertainment?
Perspectives, Ch. 18.
Payne, Darwin, Ch. 20, “The Age of Mass Magazines, 1900-present,” 385-398, in Media in
America.
Tassin, Algernon, Ch. 14, “The End of the Century,” 340-59, The Magazine in America (1916).
Repplier, Agnes, “American Magazines,” Yale Review 16 (1926-1927): 261-74.
Peterson, Theodore, Ch. 15, “Magazines 1900-64: An Assessment,” 441-51, Magazines in the
Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (1964).
The Muckrakers, 1901-1917: Defenders of Conservatism or Liberal Reformers?
Perspectives, Ch. 19.
Kielbowicz, Richard, Ch. 16, “The Media and Reform, 1900-1917,” 365-84, in Media in
America.
Filler, Louis, Ch. 18, “The Search for Democracy,” 234-44, The Muckrakers: Crusaders for
American Liberalism, rev. ed. (1976).
Chamberlain, John, Ch. 4, “The Muck-rake Pack,” 119-43, Farewell to Reform (1932).
Hofstadter, Richard, Part 5, Ch. 2, “Muckraking: The Revolution in Journalism,” 186-98, The
Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D. R. (1955).
Cassedy, James H., “Muckraking and Medicine, Samuel Hopkins Adams,” American
Quarterly 16 (1964): 85-99.
Evensen, Bruce, “The Evangelical Origins of the Muckrakers,” American Journalism 6 (1989):
5-29.
Class 12 - November 20
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The Media in Trying Times, 1917-1945: Propagandists, Patriots, or Professionals?
Perspectives, Ch. 20.
Startt, James D., Ch. 17, “The Media and National Crises, 1917-1945,” 317-338, in Media in
America.
Mathews, Joseph J., Ch. 11, “World War II,” 174-96, Reporting the Wars (1957).
Richstad, Jim Andrew, “The Press Under Martial Law: The Hawaiian Experience,”
Journalism Monographs 17 (1970).
Moffett, E. Albert, “Hometown Radio in 1942: The Role of Local Stations During the First
Year of Total War,” American Journalism 3 (1986): 87-98.
Pratte, Alf, “The Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the ‘Day of Infamy,’” American Journalism 5
(1988): 5-13.
Research Methods: Presentation and Publication
Historical Methods, Ch. 9, “Presentation and Publication”
DUE: DRAFTS OF STUDENT RESEARCH PAPERS: NOV. 22
Class 13 - November 27
American Radio, 1920-1948: Traditional Journalism or Revolutionary Technology?
Perspectives, Ch. 21.
Godfrey, Donald, Ch. 18, “Radio Comes of Age, 1900-1945,” 339-362, in Media in America.
Bohn, Thomas W., “Broadcasting National Election Returns: 1916-1948,” Journal of
Broadcasting 12 (1968): 267-86.
Williams, Robert J., “The Politics of American Broadcasting: Public Purposes and Private
Interests,” Journal of American Studies 10 (December 1976): 329-40.
Wik, Reynold M., “The Radio in Rural America during the 1920s,” Agricultural History
(October 1981): 339-50.
The Contemporary Press, 1945-Present: Profiteering Business or Professional Journalism?
Perspectives, Ch. 22.
Marsh, Harry, Ch. 20, “The Contemporary Press, 1945-present,” 461-84, in Media in America,
2nd edition.
Nixon, Raymond B., “Trends in Daily Newspaper Ownership Since 1945,” Journalism
Quarterly 31 (1954): 3-14.
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Aronson, James, Ch. 17, “Journalism of the Absurd,” 231-45, The Press and the Cold War
(1970).
Braestrap, Peter, Ch. 15, “An Extreme Case,” 705-28, Big Story: How the American Press and
Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington (1977).
Class 14 - December 4
Television, 1948-Present: Entertainment or Information?
Perspectives, Ch. 23.
Murray, Michael D., Ch. 19, “The Television Revolution, 1945-present,” 431-60, in Media in
America, 2nd edition.
Cochran, Thomas C., “Media as Business: A Brief History,” Journal of Communication 25: 4
(1975): 155-65.
Powers, Ron, Ch. 1, “Faces and Places,” 1-7, The Newscasters (1978).
Halberstam, David, Ch. 16, “CBS,” 407-44, The Powers That Be (1979).
Robinson, John, and Mark Levy, Ch. 2, “Information Flow in Society,” 13-27, The Main
Source (1986).
The Entertainment Media, 1900-Present: Diffusers of Culture or Seekers of Profit?
Perspectives, Ch. 24.
Hyde, Jana, Ch. 19, “The Entertainment Media, 1900-Present,” 363-384, in Media in America.
Wertheim, Arthur Frank, Ch. 15, “Allen’s Alley,” 335-52, Radio Comedy (1979).
MacDonald, J. Fred, “Government Propaganda in Commercial Radio: The Case of Treasury
Star Parade, 1942-1943,” Journal of Popular Culture 12 (Fall 1979): 285-304.
Fornatale, Peter, and Joshua E. Mills, Ch. 3, “The Emerging Teen Culture,” 35-57, Radio in
the Television Age (1980).
Sanjek, Russell. From Print to Plastic: Publishing and Promoting America’s Popular Music, 1900-
1980. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1983. xxx
Final Examination Period - Dec. 11
Research paper presentations
RESEARCH PAPERS DUE
10