September 29, 1995

Press Contact: Helen Dalrymple(202) 707-1940
Registration: John Haynes(202) 707-5383

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Media Advisory: Library of Congress To Hold Symposium on Calvin Coolidge and Calvin Coolidge Era

WHAT: Two-and-a-half day symposium on the political, economic, social and cultural history of the United States in the 1920s. The symposium is free; for planning purposes, advance registration is requested.

WHO: Scholars from Great Britain, Canada and the United States will present papers and discuss various aspects of Coolidge's presidency and the era of the 1920s.

WHEN: Oct. 5, 7-10 p.m.; Oct. 6, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Oct. 7, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: Mumford Room, sixth floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.

The program will begin at 8 p.m. on Oct. 5 with a keynote address by author Paul Johnson titled "The Last Arcadia: America in the 1920s." Panels on Friday will discuss the cultural and social history of the 1920s, Coolidge and politics, and economic growth and change during that period. A new documentary film on Calvin Coolidge, which is still in process, will be shown and discussed at 6:45 p.m. Friday. Saturday's panels will focus on foreign policy, the consumer economy and American culture in the 1920s.

The free symposium is open to all scholars, graduate students, and persons interested in the history of Calvin Coolidge and the Coolidge era.

The symposium is made possible by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller. A complete schedule follows.

CALVIN COOLIDGE AND THE COOLIDGE ERA

Thursday, Oct. 5

7:00-8:00 p.m.,

Registration: Mumford Foyer, 6th floor, Madison Building

8:00-9:00 p.m.,

Keynote Address: The Last Arcadia: America in the 1920s - Paul Johnson (London)

Friday, Oct. 6

8:30-9:00 a.m.,

Coffee / registration

9:00-10:45 a.m.,

Panel: Shifting Perspective on the 1920s

Chair: Nancy MacLean (Northwestern University)

The American Polity: Continuity and Change in the 1920s, John Braeman (University of Nebraska)

Reshifting Perspectives on the 1920s: Recent Trends in Cultural and Social History of the 1920s, Lynn Dumenil (Occidental College)

Commentator: Thomas Silver (Los Angeles)

10:45-11:00 a.m.,

Break

11:00 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Panel: Coolidge and Politics

Chair: Michael Platt (University of Wyoming, Casper)

Calvin Coolidge: The Man and the President, Robert Ferrell (Indiana University, Emeritus)

The "Great Enigma" and the "Great Engineer": The Political Relationship of Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, George Nash (South Hadley, Mass.)

Commentator: Michael Parrish (University of California, San Diego)

12:45-2:00 p.m.,

Lunch Break

2:00-3:45 p.m.,

Panel: Economic Growth and Change in the 1920s

Chair: Burton Folsom (Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Midland, Mich.)

The American Economy of the Interwar Era: Growth and Transformation from the Great War to the Great Depression, Michael Bernstein (University of California, San Diego)

New Estimates of Income Shares During the 1920s, Gene Smiley (Marquette University)

Commentator: Peter Temin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

3:45-4:00 p.m.,

Break

4:00-5:45 p.m.,

Panel: American Society in the 1920s

Chair: Lary May (University of Minnesota)

"Now at Last We Can Begin!": The Impact of Woman Suffrage in New York, Elisabeth Perry (Sarah Lawrence College)

Calvin Coolidge, Will Hays, and Movie Morality Dan Leab (Seton Hall University)

Commentator: Paula Fass (University of California, Berkeley)

6:45-8:45 p.m.,

Coolidge Documentary Film -- Screening of Work in Progress, John Karol, Producer

Saturday, Oct. 7

8:30-9:00 a.m.,

Coffee

9:00-10:45 a.m.,

Panel: American Foreign Policy in the 1920s

Chair: Michael Hogan (Ohio State University)

American Foreign Economic Policy: The European Dimension, Stephen Schuker (University of Virginia)

America and the World in the 1920s, Warren Cohen (University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus)

Commentator: Thomas Buckley (University of Tulsa)

10:45-11:00 a.m.,

Break

11:00-11:45 a.m.,

Preview of Library of Congress American Memory Project and the National Digital Library Internet Collection (Digital Library Visitors' Center)

The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929

Carl Fleischhauer, Program Coordinator Carren Kaston, Principal Researcher

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.,

Lunch Break

1:00-2:45 p.m.,

Panel: American Culture in the 1920s

Chair: Kathleen Blee (University of Kentucky)

"Made in the U.S.A.": Mass Culture and the Americanization of Working Class Ethnics in the Coolidge Era Ronald Edsforth (Dartmouth College)

White Protestant Nation: The Birth of Modern Right-Wing Populism During the 1920s, Leonard Moore (McGill University)

Commentator: Robert Zieger (University of Florida)

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PR 95-131
9/29/95
ISSN 0731-3527