Primary Sources: The 1920s: General

"The article reprints several articles from previous issues published during 1925-1935. Entries include a July 1, 1925 article by Zona Gale about artistic freedom in the U.S., a June 23, 1926 article by Langston Hughes about a desire among African-American artists to emulate their white counterparts, and an August 31, 1927 editorial by Oswald Garrison Villard about the execution of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti."

"The Nation's Forum recordings were made between 1918 and 1920 in an effort to preserve the voices of prominent Americans; in most cases, they are the only surviving recordings of a speaker. The project originated with St. Louis attorney Guy Golterman (1879-1967), an active supporter of the opera and other performing arts. With the endorsement of the Department of State's Committee on Public Information -- a governmental propaganda ministry -- the Nation's Forum sought speakers, and the Columbia Graphophone Company pressed and distributed the recordings under the Nation's Forum label."

"... assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition. The collection includes nearly 150 selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division; 74 books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from the General Collections, along with selections from 34 consumer and trade journals; 185 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division and the Manuscript Division; and 5 short films and 7 audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. The collection is particularly strong in advertising and mass-marketing materials and will be of special interest to those seeking to understand economic and political forces at work in the 1920s. "

"... online display approximately ninety representative documents spanning from the fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Included are the papers of presidents, cabinet ministers, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, military officers and diplomats, reformers and political activists, artists and writers, scientists and inventors, and other prominent Americans whose lives reflect our country's evolution. "

"The collection contains, among other materials, posters, playbills, songsheets, notices, invitations, proclamations, petitions, timetables, leaflets, propaganda, manifestos, ballots, tickets, menus, and business cards. There are more than 28,000 items in the collection with 10,172 available online. The material dates from the seventeenth century to the present day and covers innumerable topics."

"... presents an expansive collection of primary sources designed to enhance classroom study of the 1920s—a brief but defining period in American history, perhaps the first that seems immediately recognizable to us in the 21st century." America in Class

Newsreels from the British Pathe covering the 1920s, mostly, in England and Ireland.

The Literary Digest, June 17, 1922

An online exhibit providing access to a variety of primary source materials related to the changing American culture in the early 1900s. The site was created by The Ohio State University Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of History.

"The collection contains seven million feet of nitrate motion picture film and four million feet of safety motion picture film documenting the national and global politics and culture from 1919 through 1934 and from September 1942 through August 1944."

Access a collection of articles on a variety of topics from old magazines. A site that is privately owned and operated by an "old magazine enthusiast."
"All articles are free to read on line, however should you wish to have a version that can be printed, this can be done for the cost of $5.00. Click here to have an article emailed or faxed to you."

""Oral Histories of the American South" is a three-year project to select, digitize and make available 500 oral history interviews gathered by the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP). These 500 are being selected from a collection of over 4,000 interviews, housed at the Southern Historical Collection, that cover a range of fascinating topics. This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. " Part of the Documenting the American South Collection at UNC Chapel Hill

"... is a resource for scholars, researchers, and journalists that provides links or reproductions of both recent and long-buried journalistic investigations in all media, going back nearly two hundred years." NYU