The Economics of Leisure

By 1900, there were more than 29 million people in the American workforce including men, women, and children. Americans worked an average of 59 hours per week and usually received Saturday afternoons and Sundays off. Many companies provided unpaid leave to their employees. How do you think Americans might have spent their leisure time a century ago? Use the following images to spark your imagination and use the questions below to help you examine the images.

Use one or more of the resources below to begin research on the various inventions that drove leisure and entertainment growth at the turn of the century.

Explore the Old Fall River Line using the following:

Learn about class as a part of the economics of leisure using the following resources:

A century ago, Americans had fun in different ways. In this activity, you will use the Internet to learn how Americans spent their leisure time and research some of the new forms of entertainment that they enjoyed.

With your classmates, conduct Internet research on your topic using the list of Web resources below. Create a brief report on its history and significance, its associated costs, and who might have enjoyed it a century ago. Your group will present this report to the class.

You may first want to look at the essays and timelines listed under Leisure Overview. You can look for photographs under Leisure Photographs.

Take notes on The Economics of Leisure worksheet your teacher has provided. Answer the questions below as you take notes.

Each group will choose one of the following:

Examine an actual turn-of-the-century travel ad, and create your own: