Writing Research - The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a term sometimes used to refer to the 1920s in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, characterizing the decade’s distinctive cultural edge in New York City, Chicago, Paris, Berlin, London, Los Angeles and many other major cities during a period of sustained economic prosperity. French speakers called it the “années folles" ("Crazy Years"), emphasizing the era’s social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.
Normalcy returned to politics in the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism after World War I, jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined modern womanhood, and Art Deco peaked. Economically, the era saw the large-scale diffusion and use of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, and electricity, unprecedented industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle and culture. The media focused on celebrities, especially sports heroes and movie stars, as cities rooted for their home team and filled the new palatial cinemas and gigantic stadiums. In most major countries women won the right to vote for the first time. Finally the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the era, as the Great Depression set in, bringing years of worldwide gloom and hardship.
The social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centers, especially Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Paris and London, then spread widely in the aftermath of World War I. The United States gained dominance in world finance. Thus when Germany could no longer afford war reparations to Britain, France and other Allies, the Americans came up with the Dawes Plan and Wall Street invested heavily in Germany, which repaid its reparations to nations that in turn used the dollars to pay off their war debts to Washington. By the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade later becoming known as the “Golden Twenties”.
The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity and a break with traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies, especially automobiles, moving pictures and radio proliferated “modernity” to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality in both daily life and architecture. At the same time, jazz and dancing rose in popularity, in opposition to the mood of the specter of World War I. As such, the period is also often referred to as the Jazz Age. [1] [2]
Social Security Administration - Top Names of the 1920s
About.com: Popular Baby Names in 1920s
Nebraska Health and Human Services - 50 Most Frequent Names in Nebraska, 1920-2013
Baby Name Science - Popular New Jersey Boy Baby Names in 1920
Baby Name Science - Popular New Jersey Girl Baby Names in 1920
British Baby Names - The Top Names in England and Wales 1924
Naming Across the Pond - Best of the Twenties
eHow - Jewish Names in 1920
The NY Times - Baby name data from 1920-2008 from New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
BabyCenter - Most Popular Names in Spain (Pre-1920 and 1920s)
GlobalNews - Interactive: 93 Years of Ontario Baby Names, 1917-2010
BabyMed - Top German Baby Names, 1920s
HISTORY.com - The Roaring Twenties
Ohio State University - 1920s Introduction
Indiana Historical Society - 1920s and the Great Depression
Maine Historical Society - An Evening in the 1920s
Scholastic Press - The United States Turns Inward: The 1920s and 1930s
University of Houston - Overview of the 1920s
University of Houston - Chapter 2: The Roaring Twenties (PDF)
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Roaring Twenties
Lone Star College - American Cultural History: Decade 1920-1929
Stanford History Education Group - World War I and the 1920s
Study Notes - Chapter 32: American Life in the “Roaring Twenties,” 1919-1929
American History: ‘Roaring Twenties’ a Time of Economic and Social Change
Iowa Public Television - The Great Depression Begins: The 1920s
United States Department of Labor - Chapter 2: The 1920s and the Start of the Depression, 1921-1933
North Carolina Encyclopedia - Women in the 1920s
BBC - The Changing Role of American Women in the 1920s
Ohio State University - New Women
National Women’s History Museum - Women in the Progressive Era
University of Minnesota Duluth - Jazz and Women’s Liberation
Academia.edu - Flappers and Mothers: The Women’s Movement and Feminism in the 1920s
New York Public Library - Everyday Life and Women in America, 1800-1920
American History - Working and Voting: Women in the 1920s
West Virginia Division Culture and History - “Women’s Work, Never Done”: West Virginia Farm Women, 1880s-1920s
Telegraph - Diary of a 1920s Bridget Jones
About.com: Flappers in the Roaring Twenties
Smithsonian - The History of the Flapper, Part 1: A Call for Freedom
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Pets in America
Kansas Historical Society - Children in Kansas: 1890s - 1920s
Library of Congress - Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (PDF)
Prezi - Children and Schooling in the 1920’s
University of Iowa - Children Playing. Lebabon, Ohio, 1920s
HISTORY.com - Child Labor
Public Schools in the 1920s in the New York City and Virginia
Vintage Kids and Babies Ads in the 1920s
University of Toronto - Education in the 1920s
Prezi - Canada in the 1920s: Teenagers and School Life and Discipline
Prezi - Teenagers of the 1920s
1920s American Culture: City Life & Values - US History II
Wessels Living History Farm - 1920s Farm Life
Dhahran British Grammar School - Farming in the 1920s
The Living City - New York City: Life in the 1920s
An Amazing Photographic Tour of New York In The 1920s
Digital Harlem Blog - Harlem in the 1920s
The New York Times - Listening to the Roar of 1920s New York
Smithsonian Institution - American on the Move: New York Connected, 1920s
BuzzFeed - Then Vs. Now: 1920s New York City
W. W. Norton & Company - Chapter 5: New York in the 1920s
Prezi - New York City in the 1920s
NPR - Let Frivolity Reign: London’s Roaring 1920s
1920-1929: Explore the 20th Century London
My London Life - London Life in the 1920’s
France: The Parisian Life in The 1920’s
Texas State Historical Association - Texas in the 1920s
The Huffington Post - What The 1920s Was Really Like
City of Clarence: Tasmania, Australia - Life in Clarence in the 1920s and 1930s (PDF)
Belfast Telegraph - Pictures of Northern Ireland in the 1920s
Waterloo Region Record - The Great Depression hit Canada the Hardest
Prezi - Canadian Lives in the 1920s and 1930s
Bentley Historical Library - Detroit and the Great Migration 1916-1929
1920’s Garden: Privacy, Shelter, and Unified Design
Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales - A 1920s Garden Revisited
1920’s Interior Decorating: Simplicity in Design
1920’s Residential and Commercial Architecture
Bricks & Brass: Designs of the Period House - 1920-1929
American Vintage House Styles: A Brief History of Middle-class American Residential Architecture from 1900 to 1960
American Vintage House Styles: 1920s Bathroom Design
American Vintage House Styles: Gallery of 1920s Bedrooms
American Vintage House Styles: Gallery of 1920s Kitchen
Vintage Household Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Household Furniture Ads of the 1920s
1920’s Automobiles: Auto Industry Consolidation and Vehicle Mass Production
Brigham Young University - Love and Romance in the 1920s
Prezi - Marriages in the 1920s VS, Marriages Today
NPR - Interracial Family Prevails in 1920s Alabama
Northern Kentucky University - Prosperity of Urban Families in the 1920’s
Prezi - Family Life in the 1920s
The Huffington Post - Dating in the 1920s: Lipstick, Booze and the Origins of Slut-Shaming
The Gloss - What Dating Was Like in the 1920s
Prezi - Dating in the 1920s and early 30s
University of Oxford - The Sex Age: Gender, Sexuality and Culture in 1920s Britain
History Today - Sex and the Automobile in the Jazz Age
Ohio State University - Sexuality
University of Michigan - Lesbian History: Between the World Wars
Prezi - Homosexuality in the 1920’s
US Today - In 1920, Harvard purged Gays…
American Psychological Association - History of Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Social Movements
The Guardian - Pride and Prejudice in the 1920s
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Harlem Life: Black Families and Everyday Life in the 1920s and 1930s
Prezi - How did Life Change for African Americans in the 1920s?
Ohio State University - African American New Women
HISTORY.com - Great Migration: Black History
University of Houston - The Great Migration
Yale University - The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
Vintage Car Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Oil and Gas Ads of the 1920s
The Cost of Living - 1920
The Cost of Living - 1921
The Cost of Living - 1922
The Cost of Living - 1923
The Cost of Living - 1924
The Cost of Living - 1925
The Cost of Living - 1926
The Cost of Living - 1927
The Cost of Living - 1928
The Cost of Living - 1929
The People History - Food, Groceries and Toiletries Prices in the 1920s
The People History - Electrical Goods and Appliances Prices in the 1920s
The People History - Examples of Houses for Sale in the 1920s
The People History - Fashion, Clothing and Accessories from the 1920s: Prices and Examples
The People History - Furniture Prices in the 1920s
Bryant University - Consumer Prices of the 1920s
Vintage Money, Insurance and Banking Ads of the 1920s
Statistics Canada - Prices of a Family Budget of Staple Foods, Fuel, Lighting and Rent, for 60 Cities in Canada: 1920 to 1936
1920’s Women Fashions: Freedom from Corsets
Victoriana - 1920s Clothing
Fashion Era - 1920s Flapper Fashion History
Fashion Era - 1920s Photography of Flappers
Fashion Era - 1920-1930 Wedding Fashion History
1920’s and 1930’s Hairstyles: Transition from Long to Short Hair
The Huffington Post - 1920s Hairstyles That Defined The Decade, From The Bob To Finger Waves
Fashion Era - Hats and Hair Fashion History in 1920s
1920’s Jewelry: Classic Geometric Jewelry Designs
University of Vermont - Women’s Clothing: 1920s
Vintage Jewelry and Watches Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Perfume Ads of the 1920s
Glamourdaze - The History of 1920s Makeup
ELLE UK - 1920’s Make-up Looks
Smithsonian Institution - The History of the Flapper, Part 2: Makeup Makes a Bold Entrance
Duke University Libraries - Cosmetics of 1920s Ads
Wikipedia - Cosmetics in the 1920s
Houston Chronicle - Swimsuits from the 1920s to Today (Photos)
Fashion Era - Women’s Swimwear from 1920 to 2000
Victoria and Albert Museum - Dating Clothes & Photographs from the 1920s
University of Brighton, England - 1920s Fashion
Vintage Clothes/Fashion Ads of the 1920s
University of Vermont - Men’s Fashion: 1920s
The People History - 1920s Children’s Fashion
PBS - The Devil’s Music: 1920’s Jazz
PBS - Jazz in Time: Roaring Twenties
New York Historical Society - Jazz of the 1920s and ’30s
University of Minnesota Duluth - A New Jazz Culture
Academia.edu - The Influence of Jazz on Women’s Fashion and Society in the 1920s
1920’s Food: Introduction of Processed Foods
University of Chicago Press - Recipes from the Twentieth Century: 1920
The Food Timeline - 1920s: Prohibition-era Foods & Speakeasy Dining
Vintage Food Ads of the 1920s
HISTORY.com - Prohibition, Speakeasies and Finger Foods
HubPages - A 1920s Menu: What Did People Eat in the 1920s?
Global Post - Desserts From the ’20s
Old Time Candy - 1920s Candy
Vintage Candy Ads of the 1920s
Texas State Historical Association - Soft Drink Industrial
Telegraph - Cocktail Recipes: Drink like it’s the 1920s
Vintage Drinks Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Coke/Coca-Cola Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Alcohol Ads of the 1920s
Prezi - Entertainment in the 1920s
Atlantic City Weekly - Atlantic City Nightlife Circa 1920s
Mail Online - Inside the Speakeasies of the 1920s: The hidden drinking spots that transformed New York City’s
Prezi - The Party Life of the 1920s
Vintage Movies, Theater, and Entertainment Ads of the 1920s
University of California, Berkeley Libraries - Vamps, Flappers, and Shieks: Films of The 1920s
IMDb: Most Popular Feature Films Released 1920 to 1929
Hollywood Movie Memories - 1920’s Movie Stars
Elon University - 1920s-1960s: Television
Vintage Electronics/TV Ads of the 1920s
University at Albany, The State University of New York - Movies, Music, and Sports of the 1920s
University of Minnesota Duluth - The Great Jazz Musicians of 1920s
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources - America’s Music in the 1920s (PDF)
1920’s Music: Jazz, Ragtime, and Musical
Vintage Music Ads of the 1920s
1920’s Literature: Books Reflected Changes in Society
University of California, Berkeley - The Books of the Century, 1920-1929
Stylist Magazine - The 50 Best Books of the 1920s
Wikipedia - 1920 in Literature
Ranker - Bestselling Novels of the ’20s: 1920 to 1929
Toronto Public Library - Roaring Times: 1890s to 1920s
Vintage Books, Magazines, and Newspaper Ads of the 1920s
Montgomery College - The Lost Generation: American Writers of the 1920’s
1920’s Toys: New Materials and Mass Production
1920’s Art: The Are of Surrealism and Art Deco
Scholastic Press - Surrealism: 1920s-1940s
1920’s Dancing: New Styles of Dancing and Music Evolved
Wikipedia - 1920 in Sports
York University Library - The Golden Age of Women and Sport in Canada (PDF)
Prezi - Canadian Sports Heroes of the 1920s
North Carolina Encyclopedia - Sports in the 1920s
George Mason University - The National Pastime in the 1920s: The Rise of the Baseball Fans
Prezi - Popular Pastimes of the 1920s
Ask About Ireland - Games Children Play on the 1920s
The Huffington Post - Flappers’ Dictionary: How To Talk The 1920s Talk
Antique Automobile Club of America - Slang of the 1920
OxfordDictionaries.com - 20 Words that Originated in the 1920s
KCTS 9 Public Television - Flapper Slang: Talk the 1920s Talk
The Wired - How to Sound Like the Bee’s Knees: A Dictionary of 1920s Slang
BuzzFeed - The A-Z’s Of 1920s Slang
Thought Catalog - 59 Quick Slang Phrases From 1920s
Health, Hygiene & Medicine
University of California, Berkeley - Life Expectancy in the USA, 1900-98
Australian Bureau of Statistics - Life Expectancy Trends, 1881-2009
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Life Expectancy in Canada: An Overview
Statistics Canada - Life Expectancy at Birth, by Sex, by Province
University of Alcalá - The Pharmaceutical Century: 1920 to 1930
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Prematurity as a public health problem: US policy from the 1920s to the 1960s
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Tobacco Use in the United States
Social Security Association - 1900s to 1920s
Vintage Medicine Ads of the 1920s
HISTORY.com - Drink Some Whiskey, Call in the Morning: Doctors & Prohibition
Ohio State University - Medicinal Alcohol: Temperance & Prohibition
1920’s Medicine: Nobel Prize Winning Medical Discoveries
Cambridge University Press - Health and Health Services in British Malaya in the 1920s
Canadian Public Health Association - Milestones in Public Health: 1920 to 1929
Reddit: AskHistorians - I’m a patient at a psychiatric institution in the 1920s. What types of treatment would potentially be used?
Prezi - Medical Breakthrough in the 1920s
South Shore Hospital, South Weymouth; Boston, Massachusetts - The 1920s
Mississippi State Department of Health - Public Health Nursing 1920-1949
University of Rhode Island - Syphilis from 1880 to 1920: A Public Health Nightmare and the First Challenge to Medical Ethics
Duke University Libraries - Timeline: Medicine and Madison Avenue 1920s
PBS - A Social History Of America’s Most Popular Drugs
North Carolina Encyclopedia - Headache Powders
Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine - The 1920s
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC - 1920s
BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia - Anaesthesia in the 1920s (PDF)
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - 1920 History Timeline
Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand - The Polio Era, 1920s to 1960s
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Immigration, Ethnicity, and the Pandemic
National Center for Biotechnology Information - British Maternal Mortality in the 19th and Early 20th Century
The History of Midwifery and Childbirth - A Timeline
National Institutes of Health - The History of the Pregnancy Test Kit: Timeline
Family Planning Association - Contraception: Past, Present and Future Factsheet
National Center for Biotechnology Information - The Politics of Birth Control , 1920-1940
Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health - Ad for Hickory Sanitary Napkin Belts, 1920s
Duke University Libraries - Feminine Hygiene: 1920s Ads
Vintage Beauty and Hygiene Ads of the 1920s
Vintage Shaving Ads of the 1920s
1920’s Law and Order: Criminal gangs the Legacy of Prohibition
Crime Library - Harlem Gangs from the 1920s and 1930s
New Jersey State Police - History in 1920s
Trenton Police Museum - 1920-1939
Gothamist - 16 Grisliest Crime Scene Photos From 1920s New York
Huffingtonpost - Crime Scene Photographs From The 1920s-1960s Give A Glimpse Into America’s Dark Past
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - New York History
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - The FBI and the American Gangster, 1924-1938
Anaheim Police Department History: 1920
New York State Police - History: 1917 - 1929
Los Angeles Police Department - The LAPD in 1900-1925
Gothamist - Photo: In 1920s NYC, Police Stopped Traffic For Crossing Cats
NPR - Eerily Beautiful Mug Shots From 1920s Australia
HiConsumption - Dapper Criminals in 1920s Police Mugshots
Palm Beach Daily News - Police Ledgers from 1920s Capture Unvarnished Details of Palm Beach Life
University at Albany, The State University of New York - Laws ad Major Events of the 1920s
University at Albany, The State University of New York - Organized Crime and Prohibition
About.com - The United States Prohibition of Alcohol: 1920-1933
Office of the Historian - The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act)
University of Michigan - Organized Crime: How it Was Changed by Prohibition
The Finer Times - Organized Crime in the 1920’s and Prohibition
BBC - Was the 1920s a Decade of Organized Crime and Corruption?
Encyclopedia of Chicago - Organized Crime in 1920s Chicago
HISTORY.com - Mafia in the United States
Australian National University - Melbourne Crime: From War to Depression, 1919-1929
Cato Institute - Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure
Prezi - Crime and Punishment in the 1920s
Death Penalty Information Center - Part 1: History of the Death Penalty
History Today - Hitler and the Law, 1920-1945
Crime & Investigation Network - London Gangs
The Guardian - Girl Gang’s Grip on London Underworld Revealed
Prezi - We So Gangsta’: Canadian Organized Crime in the 1920’s and 1930’s
Prezi - Mafia Weapons of the 1920’s
The Guardian - Did American Gangsters in the 1920s and 1930s really carry guns in violin cases, or was that characteristic invented by movie script writers?
NY Daily Times - As many as 20 boys in Wineville, Calif., die at the hands of sadistic sex manic Gordon Stewart Northcott in the late 1920s
Baltimore City Police History - 1920 to 1940
Australian Police - Uniforms of the NSW Police
Metropolitan Women Police Association - History of Women Police Officers
Ohio State University - Women’s National Committee for Law Enforcement: Temperance & Prohibition
National Center for Women & Policy - A History of Women in Policing
Reddit: AskHistorians - Was cocaine legal during the 1920s in Germany?
Texas State Historical Association - Prostitution
Prezi - Prostitution in the 1920’s
University of Michigan - Organized Crime: The Status before Prohibition
University of Michigan - The Corrupt City
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - FBI Versus the Klan, Part 2
PBS - The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s
Oklahoma State University - Ku Klux Klan
San Diego History Center - Ku Klux Klan 1920-1980
University of Washington - Ku Klux Klan in Washington State, 1920s
Encyclopedia Virginia: Racial Integrity Laws of the 1920s