Illustrating the Gilded Age:
Political Cartoons and the Press in American Politics and Culture,
1877-1901


A National Endowment for the Humanities
“We the People - 2008 Landmarks of American History and Culture ”
workshop for community college faculty

May 19-23, 2008 or June 2-6, 2008

Click here for further information and an application.

• Examine the nature and impact of the Gilded Age by exploring how political cartoons and illustrations helped shape American politics and social culture in the period from 1877 to 1901
• Presentations by scholars – Dr. Mark Summers, Dr. Joshua Brown, Lucy Caswell, Dr. John Coward, Dr. Joanne Reitano, Dr. Steven Culbertson and syndicated cartoonist Chip Bok
• Tours of the Hayes Presidential Center Library, Museum, Home and Grounds
• Research in the first presidential Library’s rich collection of political cartoons and materials from the Gilded Age
• $500 stipend and possible travel assistance
  
  A few comments from participants in our 2006 NEH workshop titled, Untarnishing the Gilded Age:
  
  “This was one of the best (if not the best) organized workshop/conference I’ve attended in 25+ years of the business” “Wonderful hospitality”
  
  “It was a historian’s treat to visit the first presidential library and to have access to the wealth of primary resources along with expert assistance”
  
  “Multi-dimensional: it met our intellectual, academic, collaborative and social needs – absolutely reinvigorating…”

Contacts:
Project Director – Steven L. Culbertson
steven_culbertson@owens.edu
or Becky Hill bhill@rbhayes.org

Tentative itinerary for weeklong sessions.

Sunday: Welcoming reception – Fremont Ohio

Monday: Welcome and Introduction to the Gilded Age

• Introduction to the Gilded Age by Dr. Mark Summers
• Dr. Josh Brown - “Seeing Americans: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Gilded Age Pictorial Press”
• Small group breakouts - Tour of the Hayes Museum exhibit The Golden Age of American Political Cartoon, tour of the Hayes Library and Archives, discussions with Mark Summers and Josh Brown
• Evening – Primary-source research with the Hayes Presidential Center staff in the Library and/or walking tour of Spiegel Grove.
  

Tuesday: Capital and Labor in Practice and Pictures

• Politics and the Gilded Age by Dr. Mark Summers
• Dr. Josh Brown - “Seeing Boom and Bust: Capital and Labor in the Gilded Age Pictorial Press”
• Small group breakouts rotating every hour - Tour of the Hayes Home with Executive Director Thomas Culbertson, discussions with Josh Brown and Mark Summers
• Evening - Musical entertainment at Terra State Community College, followed by reception

Wednesday: Cartoons in the Gilded Age

• Lucy Shelton Caswell will discuss a history of American editorial cartoons, the Cartoon Research Library (Ohio State University) and demonstrate a website that uses of editorial cartoons to teach history
• “The Cartoons of Thomas Nast” by Tom Culbertson
• Small group breakouts - Library research time, Gilded Age photography discussion with Hayes Presidential Center Head of Photographic Resources Gilbert Gonzalez
• Evening - Edison phonographs demonstration and lecture by Dr. Steven Culbertson

Thursday: Case Studies – Native Americans and Industrialism

• Dr. John Coward: “Reconstructing the Indian: Racial Formation in the Gilded Age Press”
• Dr. Joanne Reitano: “Confronting Industrialism: Political Cartoons and Public Policy in the Gilded Age”
• Presentation by syndicated political cartoonist, Chip Bok, of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
• Evening - Primary source research with the Hayes Presidential Center staff in the Library. (NOTE: One workshop session includes an additional evening presentation by Chip Bok, which will be open to the public).

Friday-- Case Studies – Native Americans and New York City of the Gilded Age

• John Coward: “The Illustrated Indian: Cultural Contradictions in the Indians of Harper’s Weekly”
• Joanne Reitano: “Is New York America? The Symbolism of Gilded Age Gotham”
• Participants present preliminary project findings to the group and final wrap-up