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WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

HIST 3711: THE HISTORY OF POPULAR CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES

Krister KnappFall 2012

, TH: 9 -10 AM

Office: Busch 133Lecture: Cupples II,L015

Office Hours: Weds. 12:30 - 2:30 PMDisc. Sect. A: Fri. 11-12 PM

Office Phone: 5-6838Cupples II,L001

Hist. Dept: Busch 113Dept. Phone: 5-5450

DESCRIPTION

This course examines the history of popular culture in America. It focuses on the developments of amusement, play, leisure and recreation, and gives special attention to the rise of the entertainment industry that evolved in American society over the last two hundred years. The course holds that understanding popular culture’s functionhelps us comprehendmodern American life, and argues that popular culture content shapes and reflects our social, political and intellectual values. It contextualizes popular culture within the matrices of production and consumption while analyzing its myths, stereotypes, heroes, parables,rituals and iconographic forms. It also examines the multiple ways that race, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality have been portrayed in these forms. While not wholly inclusive, this course covers a wide variety of topics and subject matter. After a brief look at popular culture in the colonial and federalist periods, the first third of the course covers the rise of the entertainment industry in the nineteenth century, focusing on minstrelsy, dime museums, baseball, boxing, burlesque, vaudeville, amusement parks, and world fairs. The middle third examines the expansion of entertainment in a period of mass culture during early twentieth century, giving particular attention to the advent of new technologies like the phonograph, motion pictures, and radio, as well as the consumption culture upon which popular culture became dependent. The final third covers the maturation of popular culture since WWII, and examines the advent of newer technologies—television, digital recording, and computers—and the increasing fragmentation of entertainment since the 1960s. Major developments in sports and popular music are examined throughout the course.

TEXTS

Richard Davies, Sports in American Life, 2nd ed. (2011)

Susan Douglas, Listening In (1999)

Robert Sklar,Movie-made America, 2nd ed. (1994)

Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, American Popular Music, 3nd ed. (2010)

Bradford Wright, Comic Book Nation (2001)

All the books are required and available for purchase at the campus bookstore. They can also be checked out at the Olin Library reserve desk. Required articles are available on ARes (see below).

REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATION

1. Participation and Attendance: You are expected to be an active participant in the learning process of this course. Repeated absence from class will adversely impact your grade.

2.Discussion Section: You are expected to complete all reading assignments in a timely manner and come to section prepared to engage other members of the group in lively discussion. Each student will be required to write discussion questions and lead discussion one time over that week’s readings. Questions must be posted to Blackboard by 6 PM the Thursday before section. A sign-up sheet with dates will be provided to you. For instructions on uploading your questions, see Blackboard below.

3. Writing Assignments: There will be three major writing assignments, 5 to7pages each. Each one will bea take-home essay. Descriptionsand requirements of all the essayswill be made available ahead of time in class and/or onBlackboard (seebelow) with plenty of time to complete them. There is no final exam.

Your final grade for this course will be based on class/discussion section attendance and participation (25%), and three take-home essay exams (25% each), and calculated on a 100 point scale: 98-100 = A+, 93-97 = A, 90-92 = A-; 88-89 = B+, 83-87 = B, 80-82 = B-; 78-79 = C+, 73-77 = C, 70-72 = C-; 68-69 = D+, 63-67 = D, 60-62 = D-; 59↓ = F. Pass/Fail = 73↑

LATE POLICIES

All written work must be turned in on time. Please note that late papers will be reduced by one-third grade point for each day they are late! Thus, a paper that earned a B+ but was turned in one day late would automatically drop to a B. All written work must also conform to the standards of college essay writing (see College Essay Guidelines on Blackboard). Extensions will be granted only for religious holidays and for extreme medical emergencies (documented) such as grave illness or a death in the family. Please bring such cases to my attention immediately rather than waiting until the last minute.

OFFICE HOURS

Office hours are for you. You are strongly encouraged to come to them to discuss the course material and when you have questions. A good deal of learning and confidence-building occurs during one-on-one conversation with the professor. If you cannot make the designated office hours, contact me to schedule an appointment.

COURSE EVALUATION

Students will be given the opportunity at the end of this course to evaluate it, the content, and the instructor and teaching assistant. The College of Arts and Sciences at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis strongly recommends that you fill out and submit course evaluations, and your professor and TA find them useful for improving their performances and future versions of this course. To fill one out, go to

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Students who need disability-related accommodations (learning and physical) are encouraged to meet and work with Libby Lessentine, the Disability Resources Coordinator (ext. 5-4062, . Her office is located in the Center of Advanced Learning in Cornerstone in the South 40. I will do everything I can to accommodate your needs as well.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY & PLAGIARISM

To plagiarize is defined as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 898). This includes but is not limited to submitting someone else’s work (in whole, part or paraphrase) as one’s own without fully and properly crediting the author (intentionally or not); submitting as one’s original work materials obtained from an individual or agency; and/or submitting as one’s own original work material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others. “Cyber cheating” is also plagiarism. It includes cutting and pasting someone else’s web work and submitting it as your own; downloading essays, papers, etc. from the web and turning them in as your own; and buying essays, papers, speeches etc. from the web and turning them in as your own. Plagiarism is absolutely forbidden. Its violation is taken very seriously. Punishment ranges from automatic failure of the assignment and failing the course to various levels of official university sanctions, including suspension and even expulsion. Students should review the Academic Integrity Policy that they signed upon entering the University, and recall that Washington University has a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” policy. See also:

BLACKBOARD

Blackboard is the new Washington University web-based course management system. You can reach Blackboard at https:/bb.wustl.edu or through WebSTAC at You will need your WUSLT KEY to access it. Once you are logged on, find HIST 3711. Click on it and go to the various options. The Blackboard page for this course is meant to be used exclusively by its members. You should check it regularly. All up-to-date information will be posted there including the course flyer, syllabus, schedule, writing assignments, readings, and the discussion section. Questions meant for my exclusive attention should be sent to my e-mail.

To upload your discussion questions: go to Blackboard, click on this course, go to Groups, start a new group, paste your questions into the blank document, provide a title in the subject line, and click Submit.

AUTOMATING RESERVES

Automating Reserves (Ares) is the Washington University electronic system for scanned articles and other readings for student use. A number of required readings have been uploaded to the Ares page for this course. To download them, go the Washington University Library Home Page, click on Reserves, click on Search Ares (students), and enter your WUSTL KEY. Final access requires a password. The password for this course is “popular.”

COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to change)

SAL = Sports in American Life

APM = American Popular Music

MMA = Movie-made America

LI = Listening In

CBN = Comic Book Nation

AR = Automating Reserves [password = popular]

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Aug. 28:Course Overview, Syllabus, Schedule, Discussion Sections, etc.

Aug. 30: Popular Culture in Colonial and Federalist America: Sports, Games and Gambling

Davies, SAL, Chap 1; and Daniels, “Frolics for Fun,” “Drinking and Socializing”

and “Men Frolic byThemselves,AR, 109-124, 141-159 & 163-184

Aug. 31:No Discussion Section

PART I:BUILDING AN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY: SHOWBUSINESS AND THE RISE OF MODERN SPORTS, 1830-1880s

Sept. 4:Blackface Minstrelsy

Starr/Waterman, APM, 20-26

Sept. 6:P.T. Barnum and Dime Museums

Adams, “’All Things to All People…’” and “Barnum’s Long Arms…”AR, 1-40 & 75-115

Sept. 11:Baseball

Davies, SAL, Chap 2

Sept. 13:Boxing

Davies, SAL, Chaps 3 & 4, and 194-196

Sept. 18: Burlesque

Allen, “Lydia Thompson’s First Season” and “The Institutionalization of

Burlesque,” AR, 3-21 & 159-193; and Mizejewski, “Celebrity and Glamour:

Anna Held,” AR, 41-64

Sept. 20:Vaudeville

Snyder, “Taming the Bowery Boys” and “Vaudeville, Inc.,” AR, 3-25 & 26-41

Sept. 25:Amusement Parks

Sterngass, “The Rise of Coney Island,” AR, 75-111

Sept. 27:World’s Fairs

Rydell, “The Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,” AR, 38-71

ESSAY #1 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD

PART II:EXPANDING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY:TECHNOLOGIES AND CONSUMPTION, 1880s-1930s

Oct. 2 & 4:Pop Music and the Phonograph: Songwriters, Brass Bands, Tin Pan Alley, and Ragtime

Starr/Waterman, APM, 26-43

Oct. 9 & 11:Motion Pictures and Mass Culture

Sklar, MMA, Chaps 1-6 & 9

ESSAY #1 DUE (Oct. 9)

Oct. 16 & 18:Radioand Commercial Broadcasting

Douglas, LI, Intro., Chaps 2 & 3

Oct. 19:Fall Break—No Discussion Section

Oct. 23 & 25:The Roaring Twenties: Radio Shows, Dance Crazes, Jazz, Sports, Hero Worship, and the Golden age of Pop Music

Douglass, LI, Chap4;Starr/Waterman, APM, 44-68 & Chaps 4 & 5; and Davies, SAL, 122-155 & 161-175

Oct. 30Popular Culture in the Great Depression

Nov. 1:

Sklar, MMA, Chaps11 & 12; Douglass, LI, Chap 5; Starr/Waterman, APM, 115-152; Wright, CBN, Chap 1;and Davies, SAL, 175-190

ESSAY #2 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD(Nov. 1)

PART III:THE MATURATION OF POPULAR CULTURE: NEW TECHNOLOGIES, CONSENSUS, AND FRAGMENTATION SINCE THE 1940s

Nov. 6 & 8:Popular Culture during the War and Post-War Years

Sklar, MMA, Chap 15 & 16; Douglas, LI, Chaps 7 & 8; Starr/Waterman, APM, Chap7; MacDonald, “Programming for a Nation” and “Shaping a National Culture,” AR; Wright, CBN, Chaps 2 & 3;and Davies, SAL, 190-194, 210-215, 228-235253-262

Nov. 13 & 15:Counterpoints to Consensus

Starr/Waterman, APM, Chap 8; Douglas, LI, Chap 9; Wright, Chap 5; and Davies, SAL, 215-227

ESSAY #2 DUE (Nov. 13)

Nov. 20:Cracks in the (Popular Culture) Republic: The Sixties

MacDonald, “Appearance and Reality,” AR, and Davies, SAL, 242-246

Nov. 22 & 23:Thanksgiving Recess—No Classes

Nov. 27 & 29:Cracks in the (Popular Culture) Republic: The Sixties (Cont’d)

Sklar, MMA, Chap 17; Douglas, LI, Chap 10; AR;Starr/Waterman, and APM, Chaps 9 & 10

ESSAY #3 POSTED TO BLACKBOARD (Nov. 29)

Dec. 4 & 6:Leaving the Sixties: Popular Culture in the 1970s and ‘80s

Sklar, MMA, Chaps 19 & 20; Douglas, LI, Chap 11; Starr/Waterman, APM, 330-350 & 382-425; MacDonald, “The Politics of Television,” AR; and Davies, SAL, 242-251, 263-280 and Chaps 12 & 13

Dec. 7:Last Discussion Section—Summary and Wrap up

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Dec. 13:ESSAY #3 DUE (by 4:30 pm, hardcopy, in my mailbox, Busch 116)