Each student will research and write an original paper on a topic from mass communication
history. A substantial portion of the course will be devoted to the study of historical research
methods and the student paper.
Students will read a chapter from the textbook and analyze two journal articles or book
excerpts for each of several topics covered in the course. For each article or excerpt, each
student is to submit a brief (approx. 1/2 page) report answering the following questions:
1) What is the central theme (the conclusion, not a general statement of the subject or
topic) of the work?
2) What is the authors school of interpretation (underlying historical assumptions)?
How does the work demonstrate the perspective of that school?
3) How adequate is the authors research? Explain your evaluation. How could it be im-
proved?
4) What questions for additional significant historical study are raised or left unan-
swered by the author?
Textbooks
Wm. David Sloan, Perspectives in Mass Communication History (1991) (indicated in the list of
readings as Perspectives).
Wm. David Sloan and Michael Stamm, Historical Methods in Mass Communication (2010)
(indicated in the list of readings as Historical Methods)
Wm. David Sloan, ed., The Media in America: A History, 8th ed. (2011) (indicated in the list of
readings as Media in America).
All these books are available in our Colleges Reading Room at one-half the retail price. The
Reading Room keeps all proceeds.
Other Readings
Course Schedule
Class 1 - August 28
Introduction to course
Class 2 - September 11
Grob, Gerald N., and George Athan Billias, eds., Ch. 1, Introduction, 1-17, Interpretations
of American History, Vol. 1 (1967).
Higham, John, Ch. 1, The Construction of American History, 9-24, The Reconstruction of
American History (1962).
Nevins, Allan, New Lamps for Old in History, American Archivist 17 (January 1954): 4-12.
Class 3 - September 18
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: preliminary ideas and literature review)
Perspectives, Ch. 3.
3
Avery, Donald, Ch. 3, The Colonial Press, 1690-1765, 35-48, in Media in America.
Parton, James, Ch. 7, The First Sensation Paper, 72-96, Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
(1864).
Class 4 - September 25
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: ideas, annotated bibliography, statement of topics signifi-
cance)
Perspectives, Ch. 4.
Humphrey, Carol, Ch. 4, The Revolutionary Press, 1765-1783, 49-66, in Media in America.
Dickerson, O. M., British Control of American Newspapers on the Eve of the Revolution,
New England Quarterly 24 (1951): 455-68.
Bailyn, Bernard, Ch. 1, The Literature of Revolution, 1-21, Ideological Origins of the
American Revolution (1965).
Perspectives, Ch. 5.
Sloan, Wm. David, Ch. 5, The Party Press, 1783-1833, 67-92, in Media in America.
Smith, William E., Francis P. Blair, Pen-Executive of Andrew Jackson, Mississippi Valley
Historical Review 17 (March 1931): 543-56.
Mott, Frank Luther, Ch. 9, The Dark Ages of Partisan Journalism, 167-80, American
Journalism: A History of Newspapers in the United States through 250 Years, 1690 to 1940 (1941).
Baldasty, Gerald J., The Press and Politics in the Age of Jackson, Journalism Monographs 89
(1984).
Class 5 - October 2
Perspectives, Ch. 6.
Blanchard, Margaret, Ch. 6, Freedom of the Press, 1690-1804, 93-120, in Media in America.
Lossing, Benjamin J., Freedom of the Press Vindicated, Harpers New Monthly Magazine 57
(July 1878): 293-98.
Levy, Leonard, Introduction, xlviii-lxi in Freedom of the Press from Zenger to Jefferson (1966).
Teeter, Dwight, The Printer and the Chief Justice..., Journalism Quarterly 45 (1968): 235-42.
Perspectives, Ch. 7.
Jackson, George Stuyvesant, Anne Royall vs. Washington, D.C., 90-131, Uncommon Scold:
The Story of Anne Royall (1937).
Henry, Susan, Colonial Woman Printer as Prototype: Toward a Model for the Study of
Minorities, Journalism History 3 (1976): 20-24.
Class 6 - October 9
Perspectives, Ch. 8.
Huntzicker, William, Ch. 10, The Frontier Press, 1800-1900, 173-196, in Media in America.
Watson, Elmo S., The Last Indian War, 1890-91A Study of Newspaper Jingoism,
Journalism Quarterly 20 (1943): 205-19.
Beebe, Lucius, Season in the Sun, 21-39, Comstock Commotion: The Story of the Territorial
Enterprise (1954).
Reed, Delbert, A Last Hurrah for the Frontier Press, American Journalism 6 (1989), 65-85.
Buchholz, Michael, Ch. 7, The Penny Press, 1833-1861, 121-140, in Media in America.
Pray, Isaac C., Ch. 14, The War of Journalism, 197-213, Memoirs of James Gordon Bennett
and His Times (1855).
Hudson, Frederic, Ch. 27, The New York Herald, 428-55, Journalism in the United States,
From 1690 to 1872 (1873).
Hale, William Harlan, Ch. 6, Utopian, 91-107, Horace Greeley, Voice of the People (1950).
Class 7 - October 16
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: papers theme; report on research accomplished)
Tripp, Bernell, Ch. 7, The Antebellum Press, 1820-1861, 141-156, in Media in America.
Kraditor, Aileen S., Ch. 1, Introduction, and Ch. 2, The Abolitionist as Agitator, 3-38,
Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics,
1834-1850 (1967).
Harrold, Stanley, Ch. 1, Benevolence, 1-11, Gamaliel Bailey and Antislavery Union (1986).
Endres, Kathleen, Ch. 7, The Press and the Civil War, 1861-1865 157-172, in Media in
America.
Villard, Henry, Army Correspondence: Its History, The Nation 1 (July 27, 1865), 79-81,
114-16, 144-46.
Randall, James G., The Newspaper Problem in Its Bearing upon Military Secrecy During
the Civil War, American Historical Review 23 (January 1918): 303-23.
6
Starr, Louis M., Ch. 1, The News Revolution, 3-29, Bohemian Brigade: Civil War Newsmen
in Action (1954).
Class 8 - October 23
Student Research Paper Reports (Due: report on structure, direction, and shape paper is taking)
Detweiler, Frederick G. The Negro Press in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1922. xxx
Finkle, Lee. Forum for Protest: The Black Press During World War II. Cranbury, N.J.: Farleigh
Dickinson University Press, 1975. xxx
Tinney, James S., and Justine J. Rector, eds., Ch. 1, Introduction, and Ch. 2, Black
Newspapers and Other Journals, 1-24, Issues and Trends in Afro-American Journalism (1980).
Teel, Leonard Ray, W.A. Scott and the Atlanta World, American Journalism 6 (1989): 158-
78.
Smythe, Ted C., Ch.11, The Press and Industrial America, 1865-1883, 197-220, in Media in
America.
Payne, George Henry, After-war Problems and Reform, 347-59 in History of Journalism in
the United States (1920).
Stewart, Kenneth, and John Tebbel, Dana and Godkin, 72-85 in Makers of Modern
Journalism (1952).
Hart, Jack R., Horatio Alger in the Newsroom: Social Origins of American Editors,
Journalism Quarterly 53 (1976): 14-20.
Class 9 - October 30
Everett, George, Ch. 12, The Age of New Journalism, 1883-1900, 2221-246, in Media in
7
America.
Seitz, Don. C., Ch. 6, The New World1883-1885, 129-54, Joseph Pulitzer: His Life and
Letters (1924).
Smythe, Ted Curtis, The Reporter, 1880-1900. Working Conditions and Their Influence on
News, Journalism History 7 (1980): 1-10.
Kobre xxx
Beasley, Maurine, Ch. 15, The Emergence of Modern Media, 1900-1945, 281-300, in Media
in America.
Seldes, George, Ch. 6, Lord Howard and His Empire, 76-86, Lords of the Press (1938).
Morris, Joe Alex, Ch. 1 (untitled), 17-31, and Ch. 34 (untitled), 337-39, Deadline Every
Minute: The Story of the United Press (1957).
Brazil, John, Murder Trials, Murder, and Twenties America, American Quarterly (1981):
163-84.
Class 10 - November 6
Miller, Karen S., Ch. 22, Public Relations, 1900-present, 417-434, in Media in America.
Bernays, Edward L., The Era of Integration, 1941-1951, 115-25, Public Relations (1952).
Hiebert, Ray Eldon, Ch. 10, Public Relations for Public Utilities, 86-93, Courier to the
Crowd: The Story of Ivy Lee and the Development of Public Relations (1966).
Tedlow, Richard S., Ch. 2, Up from Press Agentry, 25-57, Keeping the Corporate Image:
Public Relations and Business, 1900-1950 (1979).
8
Roche, Bruce, Ch. 21, Modern Advertising, 1900-present, 399-416, in Media in America.
Presbrey, Frank, Ch. 56, The Cleaning Up of Advertising and Good Effect Thereof, 531-
40, The History and Development of Advertising (1929).
Hower, Ralph, Ch. 17, Development of Organization and Management, 460-96, The
History of an Advertising Agency (1949).
Potter, David M., Ch. 8, The Institution of Abundance: Advertising, 166-88, People of
Plenty: Economic Abundance and the American Character (1954).
Class 11 - November 13
Payne, Darwin, Ch. 20, The Age of Mass Magazines, 1900-present, 385-398, in Media in
America.
Tassin, Algernon, Ch. 14, The End of the Century, 340-59, The Magazine in America (1916).
Peterson, Theodore, Ch. 15, Magazines 1900-64: An Assessment, 441-51, Magazines in the
Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (1964).
Kielbowicz, Richard, Ch. 16, The Media and Reform, 1900-1917, 365-84, in Media in
America.
Filler, Louis, Ch. 18, The Search for Democracy, 234-44, The Muckrakers: Crusaders for
American Liberalism, rev. ed. (1976).
Chamberlain, John, Ch. 4, The Muck-rake Pack, 119-43, Farewell to Reform (1932).
Hofstadter, Richard, Part 5, Ch. 2, Muckraking: The Revolution in Journalism, 186-98, The
Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D. R. (1955).
9
Cassedy, James H., Muckraking and Medicine, Samuel Hopkins Adams, American
Quarterly 16 (1964): 85-99.
Evensen, Bruce, The Evangelical Origins of the Muckrakers, American Journalism 6 (1989):
5-29.
Class 12 - November 20
Startt, James D., Ch. 17, The Media and National Crises, 1917-1945, 317-338, in Media in
America.
Mathews, Joseph J., Ch. 11, World War II, 174-96, Reporting the Wars (1957).
Richstad, Jim Andrew, The Press Under Martial Law: The Hawaiian Experience,
Journalism Monographs 17 (1970).
Moffett, E. Albert, Hometown Radio in 1942: The Role of Local Stations During the First
Year of Total War, American Journalism 3 (1986): 87-98.
Pratte, Alf, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Day of Infamy, American Journalism 5
(1988): 5-13.
Class 13 - November 27
Godfrey, Donald, Ch. 18, Radio Comes of Age, 1900-1945, 339-362, in Media in America.
Williams, Robert J., The Politics of American Broadcasting: Public Purposes and Private
Interests, Journal of American Studies 10 (December 1976): 329-40.
Wik, Reynold M., The Radio in Rural America during the 1920s, Agricultural History
(October 1981): 339-50.
10
The Contemporary Press, 1945-Present: Profiteering Business or Professional Journalism?
Marsh, Harry, Ch. 20, The Contemporary Press, 1945-present, 461-84, in Media in
America, 2nd edition.
Nixon, Raymond B., Trends in Daily Newspaper Ownership Since 1945, Journalism
Quarterly 31 (1954): 3-14.
Aronson, James, Ch. 17, Journalism of the Absurd, 231-45, The Press and the Cold War
(1970).
Braestrap, Peter, Ch. 15, An Extreme Case, 705-28, Big Story: How the American Press and
Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington (1977).
Class 14 - December 4
Murray, Michael D., Ch. 19, The Television Revolution, 1945-present, 431-60, in Media in
America, 2nd edition.
Cochran, Thomas C., Media as Business: A Brief History, Journal of Communication 25: 4
(1975): 155-65.
Powers, Ron, Ch. 1, Faces and Places, 1-7, The Newscasters (1978).
Halberstam, David, Ch. 16, CBS, 407-44, The Powers That Be (1979).
Robinson, John, and Mark Levy, Ch. 2, Information Flow in Society, 13-27, The Main
Source (1986).
Hyde, Jana, Ch. 19, The Entertainment Media, 1900-Present, 363-384, in Media in America.
Wertheim, Arthur Frank, Ch. 15, Allens Alley, 335-52, Radio Comedy (1979).
Fornatale, Peter, and Joshua E. Mills, Ch. 3, The Emerging Teen Culture, 35-57, Radio in
the Television Age (1980).
Sanjek, Russell. From Print to Plastic: Publishing and Promoting Americas Popular Music, 1900-
1980. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1983. xxx
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