Comm4250 Media History
Professor Kilmer
Intellectual History Time Line
Neoclassical Era (1660-1798)
Traits: (Order, rationality, balance, symmetry)
Religion: Deism
[compromise between religion and science]
Historical Events:
British capture New Amsterdam and renamed it New York
Salem Witchcraft trials (1692)
French and Indian Wars (1754-1763
American Revolution (1775-1783)
1776 Declaration of Independence
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
U.S. Constitution (1787)
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
The Press --
Commercial and Political Press
First newspaper printed in North America 1690
Peter Zenger acquitted for seditious libel of New York's Governor (1735)
Science --
Copernicus
Newton (differential calculus)
Kepler
Descartes
Philosophy --
The Enlightenment (Individual Liberty, Democracy, Equality, Participation)
[The Universe runs according to fixed laws humans can understand and control.]
The Libertarians:
John Locke (1690) On Human Understanding
John Milton -- Areopagitica (1644)
Thomas Jefferson -- Natural Aristocracy
The Utilitarians: Adam Smith --Wealth of Nations (1776) ["The Invisible Hand"]
Literature:
Formats: Letters
Epistles
Satire
Essay
Authors:
Inventions:
Thomas Paine -- Common Sense
Benjamin Franklin – Autobiography
Anne Bradstreet (poet)
Phillis Wheatley (poet)
Cotton gin, flying shuttle, steam engine, Mercury thermometer, differential calculus
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1798-1830 – Transition Between Neoclassicism and Romanticism:
[In Europe, this is the beginning of the Romantic Movement.]
Traits:
(strong nationalism, land hunger, political democracy)
Religion:
U.S. Evangelical Association first convention (1807)
Methodist Missionary Society founded
American Bible Society founded
evangelicalism and revivals appear
Historical Events:
The Industrial Revolution
(1789 --Samuel Slater cotton factory)
The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
Louis and Clark Expedition(1804-6)
National Road is begun (1811)
War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans (1815)
U.S. flag adopted (1818)
The Missouri Compromise
(prohibits slavery north of latitude 36 30; Missouri is admitted as a slave state with Maine
as a free state.)
Erie Canal finished (1824)
The Press --
Still partisan and commercial press
David Napier constructs flat-bed cylinder press (1819)
French Press Agency (1811) [later became Agence Havas]
Science --
John Dalton "New System of Chemical Philosophy"
Lamarck publishes studies of species
techniques for canning food
first practical steam locomotive (1814)
Philosophy --
Transition figure: Rousseau--Social Contract (1762)
[People are "only partly rational, and moved by habit and history as much as by articulate
ends." The Columbia History of the World.]
Utopianism--Robert Owen "A New View of Society"
Evolutionary (three stages) -- Comte de Saint-Simon
Historicism: Hegel, the dialectic [emphasizes the spirit]
Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham ("greatest happiness for the greatest number")
T. R. Malthus (world over population)
Literature:
Washington Irving (local color)
James Fenimore Cooper
The American Dictionary of English (Noah Webster)
Inventions --
atomic theory in chemistry, kaleidoscope, stethoscope, Clermont steamboat (1814),
word “biology” coined by Treveranus, muskets with interchangeable parts--Eli Whitney
1828 first railroad built for passengers and freight (1828) by Charles Carroll.
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Romanticism: 1830-1865
Traits:
(heart over head, individualism, emotional, nature)
Religion:
Mormons (1830)
Second Adventists in America (1831)
Charles G. Finney, revival preacher
American Presbyterians split ("old" and "new" school)
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher became the minister of Plymouth Congregational Church
in Brooklyn (1847)
Spiritualism (1848)
Historical Events:
Andrew Jackson President (1829-1837)
Nat Turner Slave Insurrection
American Antislavery Society founded (1833)
Texas declares independence, becomes the Lone Star Republic (1836)
Financial panic (1837)
Abolitionists found the Liberty Party (1837)
Brook Farm Community founded
Mexican War (1846-48)
Seneca Falls Convention (1848) [women's suffrage]
Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill (1848)
Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise (1854)
Republican Party organized, replaces Whig party in the North (1856)
Dred Scott Decision (1857) [U.S. Supreme Court denies blacks the right to sue]
Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858)
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry (1859)
Confederacy forms (1860)
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1861-65) [assassinated April 14, 1865]
Secession of South, Fort Sumter fired on (1861)
Homestead Act (1862)
Emancipation Act (1863) frees slaves in Confederacy
Slavery abolished by Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
The Press --
Penny Press: Day, Bennett, Greeley, Raymond
News--stories teach how to live, graphic human-interest pieces about city people
War creates interest in soldiers’ names, battles
correspondents: Mexican War, Civil War,
telegraph inspires terse formats and headlines
Technology:
Hoe Type Revolving Machine (1847) [first two cylinder press]
stereotyping (1850s-1860s)
Paper making (from pulp instead of rags, 1844 in the United States, 1866)
Science --
cell nucleus in plants discovered (1830)
Charles Darwin sails on "H.M.S. Beagle" (1831-36) [Origin of Species, 1859]
John Audubon, The Birds of America (1838)
hypnosis discovered by Scottish surgeon, James Braid (1841)
measure speed of light
Philosophers:
Social Darwinism: Herbert Spencer, first to use the word, "evolution" and to refer to the
survival of the fittest [Society is an organism]
Positivism:
Utilitarianism:
Literature:
Auguste Comte [Study objects in relation to nature]
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty;
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1836)
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Edgar Allan Poe
Herman Melville
Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail (1849)
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick (1867)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature" (1836)
Henry David Thoreau, "Walden" (1854)
Inventions --
Samuel Colt (single-barreled pistol and rifle)
chloroform (1831)
Cyrus McCormick reaping machine (1834)
white phosphorous matches, then safety matches
first electric clock (1839)
John Goodyear, vulcanization of rubber
telegraph, Morse (1844)
Atlantic Cable, (1865)
sewing machine (1846)
first oil well drilled at Titusville, Pa. (1859)
Bessemer Steel first open-hearth method
Realism (1865-1900)
Traits:
(graphic depiction --realism "slices of life")
Religion:
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher--Christian Evolutionism
The Rev. Lyman Abbott -- New Theology (Progressive Orthodoxy)
John Fiske--Cosmic Theology (includes Darwinism)
Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science
Persecution of Jews in Russia
Historical Events:
The Gilded Age (1870-1914)
Reconstruction of the South
Alaska purchased from Russia
Transcontinental Railroad completed (1869)
Chicago Fire (1871)
Custer defeated, Little Big Horn by Sioux (1876)
John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust, (1879)
Brooklyn Bridge opened (1883)
American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed
Ellis Island becomes immigration depot (1890)
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
Eleventh U.S. Census declares frontier closed (1890)
Populist Party forms (1891)
Financial panic (1893)
Plessy v. Ferguson ["separate but equal"] (1896)
Spanish American War (1898)
Puerto Rico ceded to United States (1898)
Hawaii annexed and Philippines occupied (1898)
The Press --
Emphasis on moral stories to educate readers socially shifts to the beginning of
objectivity and professionalism
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International Copyright Law
Dime Novels
Proliferation of periodicals
Science --
Darwin's later work
William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890)
Philosophy --
The Socialists:
Marx: Communist Manifesto, (1848) (declared international socialism)
Das Kapital (1867) edited by Engels after Marx’s death.
(Do not equate socialism with communism.)
The Pragmatists: Charles Pierce (1878)
John Dewey, "School and Society"
[Dewey: logical thinking is subordinate to practical life; thought aims not at abstract
truth but at satisfying some practical end that life demands.]
[Pragmatists determine meaning through the test of consequences or utility and
emphasize pluralism, relativity, context, and practicality]
The Social Darwinians:
Herbert Spencer
The Utilitarians: J. S. Mill "On the Subjugation of Women" (call for equality)
["The Invisible Hand" championed]
Literature:
Success tracts: Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth
Russell Conwell, Acres of Diamonds (minister, philanthropist)
Henry James
Mark Twain
William Dean Howells
Bret Harte
W. T. Stead, If Christ Came to Chicago
The Rev. E. P. Roe, Barriers Burned Away (1872)
The Rev. Charles Sheldon, In His Steps (1896)
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (1888)
Inventions --
telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876),
incandescent light bulb (Edison)
Kodak camera (1888), movies (1896)
Naturalism: 1870-1930
Traits:
(application of scientific determinism to fiction; also biological, environmental, and
economic determinism, especially, 1890-1930)
Religion:
The Religion of Humanity (religious texts, secular writings offer inspiration)
Robert Green Ingersoll--the atheist people loved to hate
National Liberal League (promoted secularism)
Historical Events:
Shift from perception of communities as islands to image of the nation as a
commonwealth (See: Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order: 1877-1920.)
1880 James Garfield elected, assassinated four months later
Patrons of Husbandry [1867 form] (Grangers) expand
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Free rural mail delivery (1890s)
Depression 1893
People’s or Populist Party (1892-96, strongest)
William McKinley (Republican) assassinated (1901)
Theodore Roosevelt President (1901-9)
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP formed (1909)
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City (1911)
Federal Income Tax introduced (1913)
World War I (1914)
Sinking of Lusitania (1915)
Prohibition (18th Amendment, 1919)
Federal voting rights for women (19th Amendment, 1920)
The Press --
Muckrakers
William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
Science --
Sigmund Freud
Alfred Adler (individual and psychotherapy)
C. G. Jung (dreams, psychology)
Philosophy --
laissez faire questioned
Bertrand Russell
Edmund Husserl, "Phenomenology"
Max Weber, "The Protestant Ethic"
The Pragmatists:
William James and John Dewey
The Chicago School of Sociology: Charles Horton Cooley and Robert Park
Marxists: Lenin
Martin Buber, I and Thou
Literature:
Jack London, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane
Inventions --
petroleum refining (becomes significant), barbed wire,
physical integration of railroads into a national system (establishment of the standard
gauge in tracks, 1890) time zones established to standardize railroad schedules; steel rails
replace iron rails, mechanical refrigeration
Frederick W. Taylor (“scientific management”)
Wright Brothers (airplane)
nickelodeon (1905)
Ford's Model T (1908)
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Modernism: 1915-1945
Traits:
Rejection of traditional ideas and desire to establish new truths
Religion:
Darwinism and Evolution challenge established religious ideas
Billy Sunday-American Presbyterian traveling evangelist (1896)
American Standard Version of Bible published (1901)
Pentecostal Church created in Kansas (1901)
Founding of Fundamentalism (1,910-1915)
Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)
Discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls (1949)
Historical Events:
Spanish-American War (1898)
End of Indian Wars (1900)
Tuberculosis outbreak kills 150,000 (1900)
President McKinley assassinated (1901)
San Francisco Earthquake (1906)
Titanic sinks (1912) World War I (i914-1918), US involvement (1917-1918)
Charles A. Lindbergh flies across Atlantic (1927)
Black Friday Stock Market Crash (1929)
Completion of Empire State Building (1931)
"Hindenburg" crashes (1937)
World War II (1939-1945)
The Press:
Yellow Journalism-sensationalism, large urban papers with large budgets
Rise of Magazines
Rise of Corporate Ownership & Chains
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Reform Media and Muckraking-desire to expose evils of modern business and urban life
Newspapers dominate, but radio emerging as major news source
Science:
Discovery of Radioactivity
General Theory of Relativity (1915)
Observations of Edwin Hubble
Philosophy:
Rationalist
Materialist
Positivist
Nietzsche
Kierkegaard
Existentialism
Populism
Socialism
Impressionism
Communism
Literature:
James Joyce
Jack Kerouac
John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath (1937)
Truman Capote
Ray Bradbury
Maya Angelo
Isaac Asimov
Margaret Atwood
Umberto Eco
Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried
John Updike
Inventions:
Development of Car (Karl Benz and Henry Ford)
Rudolf Diesel patents engine design (1893)
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First flight by Wright brothers (1903)
First helicopter (1937)
First Film: The Great Train Robbery (1903)
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Arthur Miller
William Carlos Williams
Robert Frost
E. E. Cummings
John Dos Passos
Postmodernism (1945-Present)
Traits:
Reaction to rationality of modernism, ambiguity, complexity, diversity,
interconnectedness
Religion:
United Church of Christ created (1957)
Vatican II (1962-1965)
First Female Episcopal priest (1977)
Roman Catholicism ended as state religion in Italy (1984)
Pope John Paul II dies at 84 (2005)
Historical Events:
U.S. uses atomic bomb on Japan (1945)
U.S.S.R. tests atomic bomb (1949)
Korean War (1950-53)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
President Kennedy assassinated (1963)
Vietnam War (1965-1972)
Beetlemania (1964)
R.F.K and M.L.K. Jr. assassinated (1968)
Watergate scandal with Nixon's resignation (1974)
U.S. embassy taken over by Iranian militants (1979)
Gulf War (1991)
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Impeachment of President Clinton (1998)
Terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon (2001)
Invasion of Afghanistan (2001)
Iraq War (2003-Present)
The Press:
Conclusion of radio as main media source
Explosion of television as both entertainment and news source
Press as watchdog over government and big business (Watergate)
Consolidation of media companies
Introduction of Internet as entertainment and news source
Science:
H bomb developed (1952)
Molecular structure of DNA determined (1953)
First ICBM developed (1957)
Humans land on moon (1969)
GPS system becomes operational (1981)
Discovery of hole in ozone layer (1985)
Mars Pathfinder Mission (1997)
Philosophy:
Failure of Communism and Socialism
Existentialism
Skepticism
Michel Foucault
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Literature:
Don DeLillo White Noise (1985)
William Faulkner
Jack Kerouac
Truman Capote
Ray Bradbury
Maya Angelo
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Isaac Asimov
Joyce Carol Oates
Kurt Vonnegut
Margaret Atwood
Umberto Eco
Maxine Hong Kingston
Inventions:
First supersonic flight (1947)
Color Television (1951)
First Communications Satellite (1960)
Floppy Discs (1970)
Apple II personal computer launched (1977)
CD Player (1982)
World Wide Web (1990)
Flat Screen TV (1995)
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