Advances and Innovations in American Daily Life, 1600s–1930s

Throughout its history, America has seen incremental improvements in the domestic and social lives of its citizens. Just for instance, Will K. Kellogg—who operated a Battle Creek, Michigan, sanitarium with his brother—developed a new crunchy breakfast cereal to serve in the sanitarium, and sold it to the nation by mail order. The business grew, revolutionizing American eating habits by replacing the traditional heavy, hot breakfast with cold cereals.
This reference book is divided into these sections: Agriculture, Art and music, Business and finance, Clothing, Communications, Education, Energy, Entertainment, Food and drink, Health, Labor, Law, Manufacturing, Public service, Religion, Science, Shelter and domestic furnishing, Social welfare, Sports, and Transportation.
Within each section the reader will find subsections detailing innovations and advances in that field—for example, Business and finance is made up of Accounting, Banking, Business machines, Exchanges, Hotels, Insurance, Lotteries, Merchandising, Money, Taxes, and Time keeping. This work describes the beginnings of many aspects of daily life in America, covering most innovations through approximately the 1930s. Dedicated to detailing the introduction of various advances or innovations, the book does not attempt to carry them through today.

The late Ernie Gross of Onancock, Virginia, retired from a career in newspaper journalism and government public relations. He was also the author of This Day in American History (2000) and This Day in Sports (2000).

Ernie Gross
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 304
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2002
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1248-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0832-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface     1

1 Agriculture     3

2 Art     14

3 Business and Finance     21

4 Clothing     39

5 Communications     42

6 Education     49

7 Energy     65

8 Entertainment     73

9 Food and Drink     87

10 Health     97

11 Labor     117

12 Law     121

13 Manufacturing     124

14 Military      147

15 Music     151

16 Public Service     161

17 Publications     166

18 Religion     182

19 Science      198

20 Shelter and Domestic Furnishings     209

21 Social Welfare     218

22 Sports      223

23 Transportation     244

Index     275

“provides a fascinating glimpse at the ‘evolution of our activities’”—Catholic Library World.