HIST 535: U.S. History in the Age of Roosevelt Fall, 2021

HIST 535: U.S. History in the Age of Roosevelt Fall, 2021

Professor Wiese

Research Hypothesis and Annotated Bibliography

due Monday, October 25 at 11:59pm.

Your task for this assignment is threefold: 1) design a research question about some aspect of the “Age of Roosevelt,” 1928-1940, 2) use research tools available through the SDSU Library to gather primary sources, and 3) evaluate and organize evidence with a view toward answering your question. These are the preliminary steps necessary for any research paper.

RHAB papers should be no more than six pages long (including the annotated bibliography), 12-pt type, double spaced. Bibliographic citations should follow Chicago Style.

Your RHAB paper should include (and will be graded upon) the following parts.

1) A simple “how” or “why” question that you would like to answer about the Depression era U.S.. (Sample questions could include: How did the growth of “mass culture” affect working class politics in 1930s San Francisco? How did Depression era farm practices and agricultural policy affect California ecosystems? How did the Depression affect ideas about race and ethnicity in 1930s Los Angeles? How and why did race affect the operation of the AAA program in a particular state or region? How did the 1st New Deal affect the economy of a particular state or city? How did the Depression affect American arts or music? How did citizens in a particular city or state react to the rise of unions such as the CIO? How did Republican voters in a city like San Diego or Oakland (or Poughkeepsie) respond to the New Deal? How did popular media in the 1930s depict the role of women (or some other group) in politics and society? Citing specific class materials, explain why you selected this question.

2) A clear hypothesis (the answer you expect to find). Citing specific class materials, develop one or two paragraphs that explain why you expect this answer.

3) A brief discussion of preliminary results (what you actually found). Citing specific articles, develop one or two paragraphs that explain how and why your preliminary evidence confirms, confounds, or complicates your hypothesis? (note, confounded hypotheses can make strong papers).

4) One-paragraph annotations for FIVE articles published in popular magazines, newspapers or primary source collections that provide evidence to answer your question. Complete annotations should provide a full Chicago-style bibliographic citation. Briefly identify the author’s background, point of view, and thesis (if there is one) and characterize the article’s subject, sources, and findings. Briefly discuss the evidence that speaks to your question. Please include a digital copy or screenshot of each article with your paper. Select at least one visual image.

On structure: Use the first 3 pages to explain your question, hypothesis, and preliminary results. Devote the remaining space to your annotations.

Sample Annotation:

“DISCUSS PLAN TO SEGREGATE,” Los Angeles Times, Jun. 1, 1923, p. 110.

This article, written by a “Times Staff Correspondent,” favorably describes a proposal to the Realty Board of Pasadena, CA to construct segregated housing for “the foreign element,” i.e. Mexican-Americans and African Americans. Responding to a so-called “Mexican Invasion” of “choice residential districts” in the suburb, an Anglo-American group called the Mexican Homes Association, proposes to build “better quarters … in an isolated district.” This article supports the hypothesis that racial segregation was an important part of white “suburban ideals” during the 1920s. It reveals open support for segregation among Pasadena’s banking, charity, and real estate interests (and the LA media). In contrast to my hypothesis, however, the article reveals that some white Pasadenans did not advocate excluding non-whites; rather they proposed segregating them, so they will not be “unhappy in districts where they are not wanted.”

Research Suggestions:

To find your primary source articles and visual sources, you can use the following tools, most of which are available through the SDSU Library: the Library of Congress – Chronicling America, the San Diego Union, Pro-Quest’s Historical Los Angeles Times or Historical New York Times, Readex Index America’s Historical Newspapers: African American Newspapers, the digital collections of the Library of Congress, among others. Review a number of articles and select the five most relevant for annotation and discussion.

Historical New York Times or Historical Los Angeles Times . To find news stories from these papers, go to the SDSU Library One Search interface. Select “Databases” and search by title. Then, use the “advanced search” to limit your search by date and search keywords. Be sure to use language appropriate to the time.

San Diego Union . Our library has digital access to the San Diego Union, 1871-1983. Select “Databases,” search by San Diego Union to find the database, and then search by keyword.

African American Newspaper Collection . SDSU has access to a range of 19th and 20th century papers written by/for African Americans from across the U.S.. Search by title under “Databases.”

International Women’s Periodicals, 1786-1933 . Use this database to search a range of US and European newspapers and magazines for women. Search by title under “Databases.”

Chronicling America. Sponsored by the Library of Congress, this is the most comprehensive database for historic American newspapers. Click: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov and use the search features to select newspapers and search by keyword. The database includes papers from around the U.S.

Reader’s Guide Retrospective is available on-line for the period 1890-1982. An index to popular magazines, it has been updated to include not only citations but in some cases links to digital copies. Go to the Library Website. In the black box on the upper left, select “Databases.” Search by title for Reader’s Guide Retrospective. Search for periodical articles by subjects, keywords, or titles. Use language appropriate to the time. Where only citations are available, you can take your list of article citations, select “Journals” (next to “Databases”) and search to see whether they are available in print or digital form at SDSU. With sufficient time, you may also be able to receive articles that are not available locally through Interlibrary Loan ( https://library.sdsu.edu/borrowing/borrowing-other-libraries

Among the excellent older journals that we have on campus are House Beautiful, The Survey, Sunset, and Harper’s.

The Library of Congress contains many other written and visual images in its rich digital collections. Go to the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/ where you can browse collections from the Alexander Hamilton Papers to the Civil Rights History Project and much more – cartoons, baseball cards, city maps, photos, folk arts, sheet music, oral history…

Collections of special interest include photographs of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, which include 200,000 keyword searchable photographs of 1930s and 1940s America; the Historic American Buildings Survey, a collection of thousands of photographs of landmark buildings and architecture; though outside the period for this paper, the Ansel Adams’ collection of photographs documenting Japanese American internment at Manzanar during WWII is especially notable.

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