Population: 151,684,000 (U.S. Dept. of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census)*
Unemployed: 3,288,000
Life expectancy: Women 71.1, men 65.6
Car Sales: 6,665,800
Average Salary: $2,992
Labor Force male/female: 5/2
Cost of a loaf of bread: $0.14
Bomb shelter plans, like the government pamphlet You Can Survive, become widely
available
American Cultural
History
1950-1959
The end of World War II brought thousands of young
servicemen back to America to pick up their lives and start new
families in new homes with new jobs. With an energy never before
experienced, American industry expanded to meet peacetime needs.
Americans began buying goods not available during the war, which
created corporate expansion and jobs. Growth everywhere.
The baby boom was underway...
The purpose of this web and
library guide is to help the user gain a broad understanding and
appreciation for the culture and history of the fabulous fifties
(1950s). In a very small way, this is a bibliographic
essay. While there is no way we can link to everything, we have
attempted to find areas of special interest and to select information
that we hold dear today - movies we watch, songs we sing, events that
move us, people we admire.
To see the whole picture, we
encourage users to browse all the way through this page and then
visit the suggested links for more information on the decade. We
feel the best way to immerse oneself in a topic is to use both Internet
and the library. The real depth of information is best read
in books. More photographs, more information, more
depth. Then, there is information that will be found only
on the Internet; a journal from someone, photographs like those on our
pages. If you can add a valuable site or information to this
page, we invite you to write.
Thanks for
the visit. ENJOY!
BOOKSLibrary of Congress
areas : E -F - U.S. History [
Remember, history covers all areas of the library]
REF
E18.5.U75 Timetables of American History
Include history and politics, the arts, science and technology, and
other
info of interest.
REF
E169.1A471872 America in the 20th Century
1950-1959 is covered in volume 6. Typical of Marshall Cavendish,
this encyclopedic set is accessible and gives easy to use background
information for this decade. Covers from art to transportation.
REF
E173.A793 The Annals of America
Volume 17 of this set
contains essays and excepts from important writers and on important
topics of the time. Most valuable for this research.
REF
E174.D52 Dictionary of American History
From very brief to multi-page signed entries on topics in American
History.
REF
E176.D563 Dictionary of American Biography Annual.
Arranged by person. Up to 1 page biographical entries.
REF E176.W64 1897-1942
v.1 Who Was Who in America Brief entries
alphabetical by person.
REF
E178.5.A48 Album of American History
Vol. V and VI
This
is a great book to give the reader the real flavor of the decade
because
it is made up of photographs, captions, and brief entries.
REF
N7593.C93 Dictionary of American Portraits Photographs
or drawings of important Americans. Brief description of their
contribution. Arranged by person.
Library of Congress
browsing areas are: N-NX This area includes all forms
of art,
art history and architecture.
N 6490 .L792 Visual Arts in the Twentieth Century History
of art in the 20th Century including all art forms and
architecture. Chronological by decade.
ND 237 .R725 B74 Mark
Rothko A biography with illustrations of his work.
ND 237 .P73 S65 Jackson Pollock A biography with illustrations of his work.
NA 737 .K32 B73 Kimbell Art
Museum Architecture in detail; examines buildings with
photos, drawings, discussion.
America had just begun her
recovery from World War II, when suddenly the Korean Conflict
developed. The USSR became a major enemy in the Cold War.
Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed to know that Communists had infiltrated
the United States government at the highest levels. Americans
were
feeling a sense of national anxiety. Was America the greatest
country
in the world? Was life in America the best it had ever
been? As the
decade passed, literature reflected the conflict of self-satisfaction
with 50's Happy Days and cultural self-doubt about conformity and the
true worth of American values.
Library of Congress
browsing areas include: PS - American Literature; Z
- books and libraries.
Books
That Define the Time The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman Player Piano by
Kurt Vonnegut The Power Elite by
C. Wright Mills
The Bridges at Toko Ri by
James Michener The Conservative Mind by
Russell Kirk The Crucial Decade:
America 1945-1955 by Eric F. Goldman Mrs. Bridge by Evan
Connell
Books About Books
PS351.A35 American
Drama 1940-1960 A critical history of American drama
REF E173.A793 Annals
of America Vol
17contains essays by the important people of the time, including
excerpts from books listed above.
REF PS221.C8
Modern American Literature Multi volume work with excerpts from modern American
writers showing the change in taste and insights into their work.
PS228.B6 F67 Understanding
the Beats A survey of the four major Beat writers,
Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and Corso.
Children's Book Award winnersof the fifties:
Newbery Award Winners - Began in 1922 (include the most
distinguished children's book published the previous year).
1950 - The Door in the
Wall by Marguerite de
Angeli
1951 - Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth
Yates
1952 - Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
1953 - Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan
Clark
1954 - ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold
1955 - The Wheel on the School by Meindert
DeJong
1956 - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee
Latham
1957 - Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia
Sorenson
1958 - Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
1959 - The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth
George Speare
Caldecot Award Winners -
Began in 1938 (include the most distinguished American picture book of
the previous year).
1950:
Song of the Swallows
by Leo Politi
1951: The Egg Tree by
Katherine Milhous
1952: Finders Keepers,
illustrated by Nicolas, pseud. (Nicholas Mordvinoff); text: Will,
pseud.
[William Lipkind]
1953: The Biggest Bear by
Lynd Ward
1954: Madeline's Rescue by
Ludwig Bemelmans
1955: Cinderella, or
the Little Glass Slipper, illustrated by Marcia Brown; text: translated
from
Charles Perrault
by Marcia Brown
1956: Frog Went A-Courtin',
illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky; text: retold by John
Langstaff)
1957: A Tree Is Nice,
illustrated by Marc Simont; text: Janice Udry
1958: Time of Wonder
by Robert McCloskey
1959: Chanticleer and the
Fox, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: adapted from Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales
by Barbara Cooney
During
the fifties, American education
underwent dramatic and, for some, world shattering changes.
Until 1954, an official policy of " separate
but equal " educational opportunities for
blacks had been determined to be the correct method to insure that all
children in America received an adequate and equal education in the
public schools of the nation. In 1954, Chief
Justice Earl Warren and other members of the
Supreme Court wrote in Brown
v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that
separate facilities for blacks did not make those facilities equal
according to the Constitution. Integration
was begun across
the nation. In 1956, Autherine
J.Lucy successfully enrolled in the
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. In 1957, Elizabeth Eckford was the first black teenager to enter then all-white Little Rock Central High School
, Little Rock, Arkansas. Although integration
took
place quietly in most towns, the conflict at Central High School in
Little Rock was the first of many confrontations in Arkansas which
showed that public opinion on this issue was divided.
Developments
in Education Use the National Assessment of Educational
Progress, the Nation's Report Card to see statistics on progress in
Math, Reading and Science.
Education
Statistics from the Statistical Abstract of the United States,
years 1960 to 1995.
History
of the United States Department of Education
BOOKS
LA216.C73 American
Education : The Metropolitan Experience 1876-1980
History of education. Other titles by Lawrence A. Cremin may be
helpful.
REF E173.A793 Annals
of America Vol. 17 p.253 - 258 essay on Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka as
well; p. 371-378
two essays on integration giving the Southern viewpoint.
REF
E174.D52 Dictionary of American History
This multi-volume set has a very good entry under "Education" in
Volume 2 and an entry on "integration" in Volume 3. Major legal
decisions are listed alphabetically by title, ex. Brown v. the
Board in Volume 1.
KF4155.A93 Brown
v. Topeka An African American's View of
desegregation and miseducation.
LA11.L8
Our Western Educational Heritage The final long chapter
contains a history of the American educational system. On page
535,
a discussion of "The Post-Dewey Era" gives the reader a description of
schools in 1950.
FADS & FASHION - these
were
a few of our favorite things
Perhaps
one of the things which most characterizes the 1950's was the strong
element of conservatism
and
anticommunist feeling which ran throughout
much
of society. One of the best indicators of the conservative
frame of
mind was the addition of the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. Religion was seen as an
indicator of anti-communism. Fifties clothing was conservative. Men wore gray flannel
suits and women wore dresses
with
pinched in waists and high heels. French fashiondesigners
such as Dior,
Chanel and Givenchy
were
popular and copied in America. Families worked together, played
together and
vacationed together at family themed entertainment areas like national
parks and the new Disneyland. Gender roles were strongly held, girls played
with Barbie dolls and Dale Evans gear, boys with Roy
Rogers and Davy
Crockett paraphernalia. Drive-in movies became popular for families and teens. Cars were seen
as an indicator of prosperity and cool-ness. Highways
were
built to take people quickly from one place to another, by-passing
small
towns and helping to create central marketing areas or shopping
malls
such as Sharpstown
Mall, Gulfgate Mall and Meyerland
Plaza in Houston.
Fashion successes were Bill
Blass and his blue
jeans, poodle
skirts made of felt and decorated with sequins and poodle appliques, pony tails for girls, and flat tops and crew cuts
for
guys. Saddle
shoes and blue suede loafers were popular. Teenagers were defined
as a separate generation and were
represented
by James Dean
who wore blue jeans in Rebel
Without a Cause and created a fashion and
attitude sensation. Activities
we liked were flying
saucer watching , and watching and dancing
to Dick Clark's American
Bandstand . Fad hits with kids were
toys like hula
hoops and Hopalong Cassidy guns and western gear, Davy Crockett coon
skin hats and silly
putty .
Houston
Neighborhoods A history of the various areas around the
city from the Houston Chronicle, Houston's
largest major newspaper.
BOOKS
REF E169.1.P19 Panati's
Parade of Fads, Follies and Manias Arranged by decade,
includes fads, dance crazes, radio, TV, popular books and songs.
E 169.1.R7755
Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America Important
essays analyzing mass culture in American history.
E169.1.S9733
Culture as History : The Transformation of American Society
in the Twentieth Century Excellent source for this
topic. Events which transformed the social, political and cultural face
of America in this century.
Costumes / Fashion
GT596 .E9 A
History of 20th Century FashionHistory with
photographs
of fashion
GT738.B97 A
Visual History of Costume The Twentieth Century Pages 93-105
show illustrations of fashions in the 1950's
GT596.C53 Costume
Since 1945 Chapter
2 focuses on the1950's with line drawings of styles.
When the
1950's are mentioned, the first type of music
to come to most people's minds is rock 'n roll . Developed from a blend of Southern
blues and gospel music with an added strong back beat, this type of
music was
popular with teenagers who were trying to break out of the mainstream
conservative American middle class mold. Popular artists such as Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee
Lewis were promoted on radio by just as
popular disc-jockeys
(DJ's) like Alan Freed and the
Big
Bopper. The deaths
of Lubbock singer Buddy
Holly , Ritchie
Valens and the Big Bopper is still lamented by fans. The influence
of these early rockers has been felt in popular music worldwide.
Music in the Fifties was more than just rock 'n roll. Crooners
like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dinah
Shore were all popular. Many of these singers were the idols
of the rockers who developed the new sounds. Many of their songs
are still being played on radios, home stereos and CD players all
over the world.
Banned Music |
timeline of events concerning banning rock and roll.
Gershwin | timeless music, still
popular during the 50's.
BOOKS Library of Congress browse areas: M
REF ML200.H15 A
Chronicle of American Music 1700-1995 Arranged by
year. Historical highlights, world cultural highlights, American
art and literature, music - commercial and cultural.
REF
ML197.S634 Music Since 1900 Arranged by
day. Includes important premiers and musical events.
REF ML128.S37L4 The
Great American Song Thesaurus Arranged
by year. Summary of world and musical events, list of important
songs.
REF
ML390.S983 Show Tunes 1905-1985
Features important composers. Lists their shows and the published
music for each show.
Perhaps the most
far reaching change in communications worldwide was the advancement in
the area of television
broadcasting. During the 1950's, television
became the dominant mass media as
people brought television
into their homes in greater numbers of hours per week than ever
before. In the early fifties, young
people watched TV more hours than they went to school, a trend
which has not changed greatly since that time. What was portrayed
on television became accepted
as normal. The ideal family, the ideal schools and
neighborhoods, the world, were all seen in a way which had only partial
basis in reality. People began to accept what was heard and seen
on television because they were "eye
witnesses" to events
as never before
(live
TV) . Programs such as You
Are There brought historical events into the living rooms of many
Americans. The affect on print news media and entertainment media
was felt in lower
attendance at movies and greater reliance on TV news sources for
information. And then, in 1954, black and
white
broadcasts became color broadcasts. Shows called " sitcoms "
like The Honeymooners
, Lassie,
Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet , and I
Love Lucy featured popular characters whose lives thousands
of viewers watched and copied. Families enjoyed variety shows
like Disneyland
and The Ed Sullivan
Show on Sunday evenings. Daytime programs like Guiding Light,
"soap operas" were popular and helped advertisers sell many products
to the homemakers of America. News broadcasting changed from
newsmen simply reading the news to shows which included videotaped
pictures of events which had occurred anywhere in the world, and then
to more and more live
broadcasts of events happening at the time of viewing. This
was made possible in 1951 with the development of coaxial cable and
microwave relays coast to coast. When Edward
R. Murrow began
offering his weekly radio program (called "Hear It Now") on TV as "See
It Now," the world of news broadcasting was irrevocably
changed (eyewitness
recounts the change)
LINKS
BOOKS REF PN1992.18 .M874 Museum of
Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television - an excellent
resource to use to begin to understand the medium of television.
to the top
Anne
Frank's Diary The exhibit based on Anne's original writings.
Launch the exhibition to hear as well as see the diary.
BOOKSLibrary of Congress browse area: PN -
theater, PR - Acting, SF - producing plays
REF
PN2189.L85 Twentieth CenturyA theater buff's bible
This book lists and describes by year premiers, productions, revivals,
events, births/death/debuts in both America and Great Britain. Theatre
REF
PN1993.5.U6H55 The Transformation of Cinema
Volumes 1 and 2 are needed to cover this decade. A great source
for information about early cinema. Photographs.
The list below represents
only a beginning of what was happening in the cinema industry.
New ground was broken with each new film. Books may be the
best means of learning more on this topic.
1952 -3D cartoons and movies made their debut
with Bwana Devil; Cinerama, CinemaScope and color were other
special effects used to lure audiences
1953 - Screen Actors Guild adopts a by-law
banning Communists from membership
1956 - Audiences find movies too expensive,
so they stay at home to watch TV
People in the Fifties loved
sports. More leisure time and greater general prosperity led to
greater participation in athletic activities for the average person and
added large numbers of fans to all types of sports. Unlike many
areas of society in this decade, athletes were a diverse group.
Popularity was not based on social status, but on the ability of the
individual. All American sports such as baseball and
football gave opportunities for the rise of stars likeJackie
Robinson, Roy
Campanella, Henry
(Hank) Aaron, Juan
Marichal, Jim
Brown, and Frank
Gifford. Great women athletes played in the All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League.
As television became more
popular and available, other sports found growing numbers of
fans. College football was widely followed. Professional golf
became very popular with stars like Ben
Hogan and Arnold
Palmer helping to create the idea that to succeed in business, men
needed to play golf. Women like Babe
Zaharias-Didrikson created the Ladies
Professional Golf Association in 1950, so women were joining
men on golf courses all over America. People watched the Olympics 1952
and 1956
, and in part due to the Cold War, rivalry between countries became
very fierce. Track and field athletes like Bob Mathias
(decathlon) and Bobby
Morrow (relay) were favorites.Sports like tennis, basketball and
boxing were also popular in the fifties. Althea Gibson was the first
African-American to play in the U. S. Lawn Tennis Nationals at Forest
Hills, NY. Major names in basketball were Wilt Chamberlain,
Elgin Baylor,
Bob
Cousy, Oscar
Robertson and Dolph Schayes.
Another favorite, boxing, gave opportunities to great athletes,
Sugar Ray
Robinson and Rocky Marciano.
BOOKS Library of Congress browse area: GV - Sports.
Also search under an athlete's name for a biography on a specific
person.
REF GV567.H518 The Encyclopedia
of North American Sports History
Part of the 1950's boom in consumerism
included
housing. People could afford single family dwellings and suburbia
was born. A
small suburban community called Levittown
was built by William Levitt for returning servicemen and their
families. An influence of Frank
Lloyd Wright is seen in the popular Ranch style
house. Designers
like Bauhaus
, who helped create the International
style , influenced Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe , Philip Johnson
, Charles and
Ray
Eames and Eero
Saarinen. Louis
Kahn, architect of the Salk
Institute, was a noted architect during this period. 
Authors like 
During
the fifties, American education
underwent dramatic and, for some, world shattering changes.
Until 1954, an official policy of " separate
but equal " educational opportunities for
blacks had been determined to be the correct method to insure that all
children in America received an adequate and equal education in the
public schools of the nation. In 1954, Chief
Justice Earl Warren and other members of the
Supreme Court wrote in Brown
v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that
separate facilities for blacks did not make those facilities equal
according to the Constitution. Integration
was begun across
the nation. In 1956, Autherine
J.Lucy successfully enrolled in the
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. In 1957, Elizabeth Eckford was the first black teenager to enter then all-white Little Rock Central High School
, Little Rock, Arkansas. Although integration
took
place quietly in most towns, the conflict at Central High School in
Little Rock was the first of many confrontations in Arkansas which
showed that public opinion on this issue was divided.
Perhaps
one of the things which most characterizes the 1950's was the strong
element of conservatism
and
anticommunist feeling which ran throughout
much
of society. One of the best indicators of the conservative
frame of
mind was the addition of the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. Religion was seen as an
indicator of anti-communism. Fifties clothing was conservative. Men wore gray flannel
suits and women wore dresses
with
pinched in waists and high heels. French fashion
designers
such as Dior,
Chanel and Givenchy
were
popular and copied in America. Families worked together, played
together and
vacationed together at family themed entertainment areas like national
parks and the new Disneyland. Gender roles were strongly held, girls played
with Barbie dolls and Dale Evans gear, boys with Roy
Rogers and Davy
Crockett paraphernalia. Drive-in movies became popular for families and teens. Cars were seen
as an indicator of prosperity and cool-ness. Highways
were
built to take people quickly from one place to another, by-passing
small
towns and helping to create central marketing areas or shopping
malls
such as Sharpstown
Mall, Gulfgate Mall and Meyerland
Plaza in Houston.
When the
1950's are mentioned, the first type of music
to come to most people's minds is rock 'n roll . Developed from a blend of Southern
blues and gospel music with an added strong back beat, this type of
music was
popular with teenagers who were trying to break out of the mainstream
conservative American middle class mold. Popular artists such as Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee
Lewis were promoted on radio by just as
popular disc-jockeys
(DJ's) like Alan Freed and the
Big
Bopper. The deaths
of Lubbock singer Buddy
Holly , Ritchie
Valens and the Big Bopper is still lamented by fans. The influence
of these early rockers has been felt in popular music worldwide.
Perhaps the most
far reaching change in communications worldwide was the advancement in
the area of television
broadcasting. During the 1950's, television
became the dominant mass media as
people brought television
into their homes in greater numbers of hours per week than ever
before. In the early fifties, young
people watched TV more hours than they went to school, a trend
which has not changed greatly since that time. What was portrayed
on television became accepted
as normal. The ideal family, the ideal schools and
neighborhoods, the world, were all seen in a way which had only partial
basis in reality. People began to accept what was heard and seen
on television because they were "eye
witnesses" to events
as never before
(live
TV) . Programs such as You
Are There brought historical events into the living rooms of many
Americans. The affect on print news media and entertainment media
was felt in lower
attendance at movies and greater reliance on TV news sources for
information. And then, in 1954, black and
white
broadcasts became color broadcasts. Shows called " sitcoms "
like The Honeymooners
, Lassie,
Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet , and I
Love Lucy featured popular characters whose lives thousands
of viewers watched and copied. Families enjoyed variety shows
like Disneyland
and The Ed Sullivan
Show on Sunday evenings. Daytime programs like Guiding Light,
"soap operas" were popular and helped advertisers sell many products
to the homemakers of America. News broadcasting changed from
newsmen simply reading the news to shows which included videotaped
pictures of events which had occurred anywhere in the world, and then
to more and more live
broadcasts of events happening at the time of viewing. This
was made possible in 1951 with the development of coaxial cable and
microwave relays coast to coast. When Edward
R. Murrow began
offering his weekly radio program (called "Hear It Now") on TV as "See
It Now," the world of news broadcasting was irrevocably
changed (eyewitness
recounts the change)
