I rec'd this from Danna Bell-Russel <[log in to unmask]> via the Material Culture listserv. Since the subject matter could pertain to NY, I felt it was appropriate to forward it. Bonnie Glickman, Rochester NY --------------------------------------------- > Good Afternoon, > > This announcement is being sent to a number of lists; please accept our > apologies for any duplicate announcements. > > Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, > 1921-1929, an online compilation made possible with the generous support > of Laurance S. and Mary French Rockefeller, assembles a broad array of > Library of Congress source materials documenting the prosperity of the > Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and > the role of government in this transition. > > The collection materials draw attention on the one hand to business > concerns, such as advertising, marketing, merchandising, and > industrialization, and on the other to popular notions about responsible > consumerism, thriftiness, and efficiency in the home. The collection > also focuses on President Coolidge’s idea of government, and on > Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover's standardization initiatives. > Other materials document groups that could not participate fully in the > emergent consumer economy, notably farmers and immigrants. Collection > materials suggest connections among some of the key technological > developments, government structures, > social organizations, and cultural assumptions that worked together to > reinforce the mass consumer economy. > > Among items of special interest are research studies and manuscript > materials that document the spending habits of African Americans, the > activities of African American businesses, and the northward migration > in search of better opportunities. Other notable materials include > information on consumer activism; studies of urban and rural women as > consumers; selections from the papers of Edward L Bernays, a founding > father of public relations; and the diaries of White House physician > Joel T. Boone, giving his private view of the Coolidge family. > > The collection is in a variety of formats and includes nearly 200 > selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two > collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division of the > Library of Congress; 74 books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from > the General Collections, along with selections from 34 consumer and > trade journals; over 60 speeches by Coolidge, 8 of which are published > here for the first time; 181 photographs from the National Photo Company > > Collection held by the Prints and Photographs Division; and 5 short > films and 7 audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion > Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. > > The collection is accompanied by an alphabetically arranged guide > providing information about prominent individuals, organizations, > concepts, and publications of the Coolidge era replete with hyperlink > pointers to collection materials. > > Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer > Economy1921-1929 can be found at the following URL: > http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/coolhtml/coolhome.html > > Please send any questions about this collection to [log in to unmask]