Case:               The Automobile in the 1920s

 

Theme:           Industrial and Technological Change

 

Time Period: 1920s

 

I. Overview of Case Topic:

 

            The 1920s brought unprecedented levels of economic prosperity and cultural change to the United States.  The automobile bridged these two developments.

Automobile production moved to the center of the nation’s economy in these years, as the nation became by far the world leader in automobile production and consumption.  Most families owned one by the decade’s close.  This boom in automobile manufacturing signaled a shift to consumer goods in the nation’s economy.

            The automobile was also at the center of a cultural transformation.  It allowed young people to attend high school more easily and to keep company with their peer group rather than their parents.  Even farmers could drive to town to watch movies and socialize.  People became more mobile and private in their social interactions.  Small towns often suffered as local residents could now shop in larger cities.  Urban residents were able to live much farther away from their work than before, as automobiles were much more flexible and convenient than public transportation.

 

II. Connection to Theme/Time Matrix:

           

            This decade began with the end of World War I and the Progressive Era and closed with the onset of the Great Depression.  This interval between two more somber periods was characterized by political conservatism, prosperity, and pleasure seeking.  This was a time of great technological advancement.  The automobile became the nation’s leading consumer good, but household appliances also became widespread, as did new forms of recreation, particularly movies, the phonograph, and radio.

 

III. Historical Questions:

 

Did the automobile reinforce or undermine male domination?

 

In what ways did the automobile give children more independence?

 

Why was the automobile so popular in the United States?

 

Why weren’t Americans more concerned about the traffic jams and accidents automobiles created?

 

How did the automobile affect where people lived?

 

How did the automobile affect where people worked?

 

How did the automobile affect leisure and recreation?

 

What was the relationship between the automobile and the culture of pleasure-seeking of the 1920s (such as dating, jazz, and movies)?

 

 

IV. Resources

 

A. Secondary

 

Abbott, Carl.  Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City. 

            Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.

 

Bailey, Barbara Ruth.  Maina Street, Northeastern Oregon: The Founding and

Development of Small Towns.  Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1982.

 

Barron, Hal. W.  Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North,

            1870-1930.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.

 

 Berger, Michiael.  The Devil Wagon in God’s Country: The Automobile and Social

Change in Rural America, 1893-1929.  Hamdon: Archon, 1979.

 

Bottles, Scott L.  Los Angeles and the Automobile: The Making of the Modern City. 

Berkeley: University of California, 1987.

 

Fink, James J..  The Car Culture.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1975.

 

Ling, Peter.  America and the Automobile: Technology, Reform, and Social Change. 

            New York: St. Martins, 1990.

 

Scharff, Virginia.  Taking the Wheel: Women and the Coming of the Motor Age. 

            Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992.

 

B. Primary

 

Novels: Sinclair Lewis, Babbit (1922); Nard Jones, Oregon Detour (1930).

 

Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, 1929.

 

Oregon newspapers available at the University of Oregon and some in Douglas County.

 

Sanborn city atlases. (showing the location of businesses)

 

City directories (showing occupations and businesses)

 

Autobiographies (there is an excellent bibliography for Oregon in Stephen Down Beckham, ed., Many Faces: An Anthology of Oregon Autobiography.

 

Automobile advertisements: http://pelorus.scriptmania.com/cars/index.htm

 

 

David Peterson del Mar, 29 May 2005