Other Topics: General | Standard of Living | Productivity | Lowell and the Early Textile Mills | Pope and the American System of Manufactures | DEC and the Computer in New England

Books

American Standard of Living 1918-1988 by Clair Brown
Not an easy book to find, but it's worth the effort. According to Brown, the economic forces behind improved living standards include the following: mass production of goods with continuous automation of production; introduction of new goods and services as a result of technological innovation; development of credit and mass marketing systems; development of worldwide communication and information systems; and integration of the global economy.

The Good Old Days — They Were Terrible! by Otto L. Bettmann
Filled with compelling images and fascinating facts, this book is an instant cure for nostalgia.

Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel
Profiles of 30 "statistically average" families from different nations. The large family portraits are unforgettable. They show families outside their houses, surrounded by all their material possessions.

More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
Cowan argues that even after industrialization and the introduction of "labor-saving" devices, women were still spending as much time as ever keeping house.

Never Done: A History of American Housework by Susan Strasser
The reaction of an online reviewer: "I dreamt life 100 years ago was so much better than today. So simple, so lovely . . . but Strasser's book blew that theory out of the water."

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Essayist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich worked at a variety of low-wage jobs to get a feel for what people go through when they try to make ends meet on $6 to $7 an hour.

Pursuing Happiness by Stanley Lebergott
Here's what Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley said about Pursuing Happiness: "Writing with lucidity, wit, and forthrightness . . . Lebergott argues that the great American shopping spree is not mere self-indulgence but an essential part of what has been a remarkably successful pursuit of happiness."

Their Lives & Numbers: The Condition of Working People in Massachusetts, 1870-1900, edited by Henry F. Bedford
Interviews with people who worked in the mills and factories of Massachusetts during the late 19th century. Most of the interviews originally appeared in annual reports issued by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, and they provide a good baseline for measuring the improvement in our material standard of living.

The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860 by George R. Taylor
Historians consider Taylor's book a classic. Here's an excerpt that will bring you back to reality when you're "exhausted" after a seven-hour drive on the interstate: “In 1812, a wagon loaded with cotton cards and drawn by four horses took 75 days to travel from Worcester, MA to Charleston, SC.”

Everyday Life in America Series
Sights, sounds, and smells of daily life instead of dates, battles, and "great men." The Everyday Life Series gives you a feel for what it would have been like to be you in a different time period:

• The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840 by Jack Larkin
• The Expansion of Everyday Life, 1860-1876 by Donald E, Sutherland
• Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915 by Thomas J. Schlereth
• The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945 by Harvey Green

Other Readings

"Eliminating Child Labor," by Miriam Wasserman, Regional Review, Quarter 2 2000 (Vol. 10, No. 2). http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2000/q2/kidlabor.htm
"Today's debates on child labor and international trade echo arguments heard in the United States less than a century ago." (Note: If you're not on the mailing list for Regional Review, visit our web site and sign up. There's no charge.)

"Last 100 Years Show Growth of Luxury, Greed," by Cynthia Crossen, The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2000.
The evolution of holiday gift-giving, 1900 to 2000.

"Lessons Learned from the History of Social Indicators," by Clifford W. Cobb and Craig Rixford, Redefining Progress, November 1998. http://www.rprogress.org/publications/1998/SocIndHist.pdf
A highly readable piece on the use and gathering of social statistics.

"Living with a Computer," by James Fallows, The Atlantic, July 1982. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82jul/fallows.htm
Talk about changes in the quality of goods! In 1982, James Fallows was absolutely euphoric over his Processor Technology SOL-20 with its 48k RAM and 12-inch monitor.

"A (Mild) Defense of Luxury," by James B. Twitchell, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 15, 2002.
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i27/27b00701.htm
Twitchell has fun making the case that "consuming the unnecessary" can be "liberating and democratic."

"Standard of Living," by Catherine Hennessey. http://www.catherinehennessey.com/onestory.php3?number=66

"The Worldwide Standard of Living Since 1800," by Richard A. Easterlin, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2000.
Access to the Journal of Economic Perspectives online archive is limited to members, but you might be able to find this article elsewhere on the web if you run a search.

"America's Housing: 1900-2010," Housing Facts, Figures and Trends, National Association of Home Builders.
http://www.nahb.com/housing_issues/facts.htm
Includes a concise comparison of American housing in 1900, 1950, and 2000.

"How Much Is That?"
http://www.eh.net/hmit/
Two highlights:

• What is the Relative Value? Five Ways to Compare the Worth of a United States Dollar, 1789-Present.
  
  
• Purchasing Power of the United States Dollar, 1665-2001

"Historical Atlas of Massachusetts" by Richard Wilkie and Jack Tager, 1991.
http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/wilkie/Wilkie/maps.html
Nice collection of maps and charts (in color!) — population distribution, transportation, communication, and much more.

"Human Development Report 2002: Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World," United Nations.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2002/

"Kitchen Debate" transcript. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/14/documents/debate/

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service
Three resources on the PBS web site:

• The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900-2000
  http://www.pbs.org/fmc/
  The 20th century was the first to produce an extensive statistical record, and The First Measured Century uses that record to survey the extraordinary changes that took place in American life between 1900 and 2000. The web site features an online teachers guide, and, for those with time and patience, there's a free download of The First Measured Century book.
  
  
• Frontier House
  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/
  PBS cameras recorded the experiences of three contemporary American families as they tried to live as Montana homesteaders did in the 1880s. It wasn't always pretty. (Be sure to click on the Resources section.)
  
  
• The 1900 House
  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house
  A British family volunteered to live the way middle-class Londoners did in 1900: no shampoo, very little hot water, a temperamental oven, and corsets. It didn't look like fun. (The web site has online lesson plans.)