Clubwomen and Women's Clubs

      The first article I read was from the Indianapolis News titled Clubwomen Will Be Drafted Into Service. According to the newspaper, in the past it would take a long time to hear back from the women who were elected to be part of the board of the Indiana Federation of Clubs, if they even heard back at all. The Indiana Federation of Clubs (IFC) is part of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), which, according to gfwcindiana.com, is "an international organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service." The Indianapolis News states, "Clubwomen must serve in the capacity assigned to them, she [the president of the IFC] says." Because women often took a really long time to respond to being elected, or didn't respond at all, the IFC began drafting them instead of letting them decide to do the work.

      The next article to which I was directed was an article titled Club or Home? Mrs. Joseph C. DeNoon, of Pittsburg, Thinks No Woman Can Do Both Justice, and Chose Husband and Children from The San Francisco Chronicle. It stated, "Generally speaking, they [men] look upon the foundation of these organizations [women's clubs] as evidence of the uplift and the broadening of the influence of the female sex." However, not all men were happy with eating a cold meal because there wife was out participating in a women's club all day instead of staying home cooking and cleaning.  The article continues with, "... among women themselves there is a decided difference of opinion. Some are strong for the uplift; others are as keenly determined that the uplift movement should be confined to the home." Many women felt that women's clubs were a good thing and wanted to participate. However, a lot of other women felt that it was their job to stay home and remain the dutiful wife and mother. The argument of whether women should stay home or participate in women's clubs went national. The San Francisco Chronicle states, "Since when there has been a chorus of dissent from her [Mrs. DeNoon's] clubwomen, and the whole question of whether or not a woman can afford time for clubs is being argued over again throughout the nation."

       These opinions help clarify what I read in the first article. Women weren't accepting their positions once they were elected, because they felt that they didn't have the time or the ability to participate in a women's club and  remain a good mother and wife to their family. In order to make sure that the IFC had a board, the president began drafting the women that were elected to do the work instead of giving them the option to decline the positions for which they were elected.


Sources:
- Basic Newspapers: used to find information about clubwomen
- GWFC Indiana Federation of Clubs: used to define the Indiana Federation of Clubs
- The Indianapolis News - "Clubwomen will be drafted into service"
- The San Francisco Chronicle - "Club or Home?"

Dangerous Work Conditions

- half of all the work-related deaths happened in the coal mining and railroad industries around 1900
- though there aren't nearly as many worker deaths now, they still happen regularly in ocean fishing, construction of big bridges and sky scrapers, and other dangerous jobs

Library of Economics and Liberty - Working Conditions

The Progressive Era

1. Progress is advancement towards a societal or personal goal.

2. The Progressive Era is defined as the 1890s to 1920s This period of time was when political and social movements took place to rectify the problems introduced to America by industrialization.

3. Progressive reforms all had to do with social and political improvements and changes during the Progressive Era. (Source 3)

4. Major goals of Progressives: (Sources 1 & 2)
      (1 Essential goals worth striving for/ Necessary changes
       2 Good Goals – not strictly necessary but could really improve life
       3 Strange Goals
       4 Not a good idea)
 - Make cities cleaner and healthier (1)
 - Make workplaces safer (1)
 - Improve the treatment of workers and customers (2)
 - Income tax (16th Amendment) (2)
 - Ban on alcohol (3 & 4)
 - Protect social welfare (1)
 - Promote fairness (2)
 - Control big businesses (4)
 - Promote efficiency in government and business (2)

Sources:
1. Google - "goals of the progressive movement"
2. Reference.com - "What were the four goals of the progressive movement?"
3. Google - "progressive reforms"

What People Thought the Future Would be 100 Years Ago

    One hundred years ago, people were trying to predict what the future (our present) would be like. Some of the thing they came up with were a little strange and didn't come true, but other ideas - although, not spot-on - were pretty close to some of the thing we do have today. Here are a few examples of what people thought things would be like today:

firefighters with bat wings

domesticated seahorses

 1. flying cars
 2. domesticated animals              (especially ocean life) that       could be used for                     transportation or work
 3. firefighters with bat wings 
 4. space travel on a regular           basis
 5. high tech education

high tech eduction

 6. video chatting

video chatting

     7. blimp boats
     8. automated bathrooms
     9. robot barbers
   10. mobile homes
   11. radium fire places

    Some of these things, such as the domesticated animals, bat-winged firefighters, and hover cars were pretty hopeful and seem to be more of a "wish list". Other things like the robots performing jobs and high tech education seem to be more on the warning side. People could feel threatened that robots would put them out of jobs, or that their kids could be hooked up to machines.
    Maybe not all of the predictions came true, some of them are pretty far from our reality today, but others came pretty close to being spot-on predictions. The mobile home that was predicted may not be the exact one we have today but it was pretty close. The same goes for video chatting, but giant domesticated seahorses that we can race and ride across the ocean would have to go in the "didn't really happen" category.
     Most of the predictions seem to be about types of transportation, like the blimp boat, the hover cars, and animals.
     Personally, I don't think that we will have another time of drastic change like the one that happened 100 years ago, but I do think that things will continue to change gradually.



1. Wired - Here’s How People 100 Years Ago Thought We’d Be Living Today
2. Up Worthy: 11 ridiculous future predictions from the 1900 world's fair — and 3 that came true.

Animals During Urbanization

     Some may think that when the United States started to urbanize, people would have left their animals on the farms, but this was not the case. As people started to move from the rural countryside to the more densely populated urban cities, they brought their animals with them. Animals performed jobs, they were kept as companion pets, the way animals were kept and treated made people start thinking about cleanliness in a way they never had before, and having animals even started changing what was considered to be a part of the "private sphere" of people's home lives. Urbanization had a huge affect on the lives of animals.

Pigs in the city streets near a residential area.

     At the start of urbanization, people used animals mainly for work and food. In late 1850's and early 1860's New York City, cows and pigs - which were an important food source for the lower-class city residents - were kept in the outskirts of the city near the residential areas and were fed wastes rather than actual food. This made for poor-quality food, add that to the unsanitary conditions - which caused putrid smells for the people close by - led to newspaper articles that coerced the New York City government to take action. The livestock was taken over by the government, who were now able to control the quality of urban food (Source 8). This was the beginning of people caring about what they were eating, and the start of the Department of Health in urban cities. 

Horse-drawn carriage (1900)

     Another instance that helped early cities in the US realize that they needed to improve the conditions of the city to be more sanitary was the Great Epizootic. During the early 1870's, horses and mules were used as work animals, usually pulling carriages or hauling heavy work materials. In 1872 and epidemic that originated in Toronto spread to all the horses in the majority of the major cities of the US. For two weeks, horses in big cities such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco were all unable to work because they caught distemper. Many people were very annoyed at the lack of a work force, and construction and transportation was halted for a brief period of time. Dr. Andrew Smith, a veterinarian at Ontario Vet College even voiced that he thought of it as a "considerable loss and annoyance to owners of horses and to the community generally"(Source 8) People in the city realized that their multi-species communities made for unique ecological conditions and an easy was for disease to spread that was unlike that in the rural countryside. 

Boston Terriers ("America's dog") 

Black and white photo of a Saint Bernard

     The role of animals in the home also adapted during this time period. Before urbanization, the only pets that were really kept - usually just in the homes of the wealthy - were big dogs kept as hunting partners or child companions. Not until the end of the urbanization period does one see small dogs and other animals kept inside the home. According to Source 5, at the beginning of urbanization in the 1880's, the most popular dog breeds were gun dog (spaniels, setters, and pointers), then in the 1890's it was the Saint Bernard, then the Collie in the 1900's, and finally in the 1910's the most popular dog breed is the Boston Terrier. The Boston Terrier (or "America's dog") is the first really small "companion dog" that wasn't kept for any other purpose than to keep the owner company. This marks the start of pets used as symbols of class or status in the home, or simply for entertainment. Around this time, birds became very popular because they could be kept in a small space and provided "music" to the owners. Instead of going to an opera or a theater, the owner of a bird simply had to sit in his or her home and listen to their small, convenient pet as they sang.

ASPCA giving water to a carriage horse.

    Animals in the city also had an affect on what was considered to be part of the "domestic sphere" of everyday life. With some animals performing work in the cities, and others being kept as pets inside the homes, they were considered part of the "public sphere" and the "private sphere". The people's ability to see how the work animals were treated in public led to the creation of the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and new morals for the treatment of all animals, whether they were used for work or kept as pets (Source 2). A saying arose during urbanization that went, "A man who beats his beast is a man who beats his children." This saying is a great example of how people viewed animals in the home the same way that they viewed their children. They would show them off to guests, making sure that they were well-behaved and taken care of properly. Animals became symbols of the moral stability in a home. 
     Urbanization changed the way animals were kept and what role they played in the lives of their human counterparts. The keeping of animals during urbanization even changed the way that humans viewed things like hygiene in the city communities. Animals also had an affect on urbanization. Without work horses or mules to haul heavy materials, construction would not have happened as fast as it did in the beginning of urbanization. Urbanization changed many things for animals as a whole, but animals also helped the process of urbanization happen. 




Citations:

1. NY Times - Pet Sounds: a review of a book that gives a general background on domestic animals in America
2. Backstory- Pet Friendly: A History of Domestic Animals - a podcast on the history of domestic animals
3. Express - A secret history of pets: Why humans have kept animals as pets since ancient times: used to get dates of important animal events
4. Library of Congress - Books that Shaped America: used to get a description of The American Woman's Home
5. The CSM - Most Popular Dog Breed: which breed of dog was most popular for each decade from 1880's to present
6. NY Times - Coney Elephant Killed: newpaper article about the execution of a circus elephant, used to get the perspective of people on animals during that time period
7. History Matters - The American Woman’s Home: a more detailed description of the book in order to get an idea of what role pets played in the home
8. ASEH 2013: International Perspectives on Urban Animals in the Nineteenth Century - several accounts of events having to do with animals in cities during urbanization