Introduction to the 1900s Overview -wjj

Later dubbed "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton in her 1920 book of the same name, the first decade of the 1900s was a time of rapid growth in industrialization and technological advancement, from cars and movies to wax-sealed food storage to the modern razor, technologies infiltrated nearly every aspect of everyday life in ways that were both profound and subtle.

Later dubbed "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton in her 1920 book of the same name, the first decade of the 1900s was a time of rapid growth in industrialization and technological advancement, from cars and movies to wax-sealed food storage to the modern razor, technologies infiltrated nearly every aspect of everyday life in ways that were both profound and subtle.

In the 1900s, industrialism and consumerism converged to form a culture of consumption in the United States.

Consequently, corporations developed innovative means to encourage consumption, ensuring reliable and growing markets for their products.

Advertising emerged as the most pervasive technique for promoting the budding consumption craze.

Advertising emerged as the most pervasive technique for promoting the budding consumption craze.

Urban department stores, chain retail stores, and mail-order catalogs granted greater access to the goods that people increasingly believed they needed.

One prevalent theme in promoting consumerism was hygiene and health, particularly the health of children.

One prevalent theme in promoting consumerism was hygiene and health, particularly the health of children.

Scott Paper sold its new product, paper towels, by touting their ability to prevent the spread of disease.

Mail-order catalog companies flourished using improvements in transportation, packaging, and the national postal service to expand their services.

The transformation of packaging became an interesting phenomenon in its own right.

At the same time packaging could be decorated with brand names, slogans, and other imagery to foster brand identification with customers.

Shopping became a pastime for a new rising middle class and retailers transformed themselves to meet their shoppers' needs and desires.

Though upper and middle-class men and women's clothing styles were still tied closely to European and Victorian styles from the 1890s, as industrialism sparked urban growth, working men and women increasingly dressed in styles appropriate for their jobs, and at all social levels, the decade eventually saw a gradual move away from highly formal, ornate styles toward a sleeker, more modern approach to attire.

Fashion took on a whole new meaning when women in small towns and villages could buy the same clothes that were available in cities, and working class women could afford machine-made approximations of the hand-crafted clothes that upper-class women wore.

Precariously balanced on the head or tilted to one side, these elaborate creations required countless hat pins to keep them in place.

Precariously balanced on the head or tilted to one side, these elaborate creations required countless hat pins to keep them in place.

Meant to draw attention to the curve of a woman's back and the narrowness of her waist, the corset defined the look of affluent women.

Corsets in the first decade of the 1900s tended to push the torso forward, creating an S-shaped silhouette.

Corsets in the first decade of the 1900s tended to push the torso forward, creating an S-shaped silhouette.

The first decade of the 20th Century witnessed the large-scale awakening of two American obsessions: consumer culture and car culture.

These expesive contraptions were given to sputtering oil, fire, and smoke on a regular basis, all while shaking their occupants silly.

Yet despite discomfort and frequent breakdowns, the car craze caught on with a small segment of young, upper-class adventurers intrigued by the new technology.

In the first ten years of the 1900s, cars, along with recently installed commuter railway systems, began connecting cities to suburbs in ways that would affect economics and culture for years to come.