Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies
1900-1909

Pre-1650 1650 1700 1750 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840
  1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920
Literature, Music, and Movies 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
1900-1909
 Music Movies Literature
1900
  • "My Pretty Peggy" (RealAudio)(RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "The Maple Leaf Rag" (1899; Scott Joplin; MIDI file)
  • "El Capitan March Medley"  (Issler's Orchestra) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Our Whistling Servant Girl" (John York Atlee)(RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Oh Promise Me" (Harry McDonough at archive.org)
  • Why Mrs. Jones Got a Divorce
    		•
  • Zitkala-Sa, Impressions of an Indian Childhood, The School Days of an Indian Girl, and An Indian Teacher among Indians published in the January, February, and March Atlantic Monthly.
  • Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars 
  • Mark Twain, "The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg" 
  • Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Age
  • 5 June. Stephen Crane dies at Badenweiler, Germany
  • Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie 
  • Smart Set (1900-1930)

    •  
    1901
  • "Peacherine Rag" (Scott Joplin; MIDI file)
  • "Stars and Stripes Forever March" (John Philip Sousa)
    (RealAudio file from a  wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Hearts and Flowers" (at archive.org)
  • The Gordon Sisters Boxing 
    		•
  • Frank Norris, The Octopus
  • Charles W. Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition
    • 1902
  • "Morning, Noon, and Night Overture" (RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "Elite Syncopations" (Scott Joplin; MIDI file)
  • "The Stars and Stripes Forever" march (Mr. Ruby Brooks on banjo) (RealAudio file from a  wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Du, Du, Lichs Mir im Herzen" (in Irish dialect)(RealAudio from Robert's Old Schmaltz Archives)
  • "Mr. Dooley" (humorous recording) (at archive.org)
  • Panoramic View of the Golden Gate
  • What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City ( A woman's skirt is blown up to her knees when she walks over a subway grating)
    		•
  • Ida Tarbell's expose of the oil monopoly, History of the Standard Oil Company, appears in McClure's Magazine. 
  • Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
  • Jack London, The Iron Heel
  • Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities
  • Henry James, The Wings of the Dove
  • Ellen Glasgow, The Battle-Ground
  • Owen Wister, The Virginian
  • October. Frank Norris dies of appendicitis.
  • Susie King Taylor, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops
    Late 1st S. C. Volunteers
    		•
    1903
  • "Please, Mr. Conductor, Don't Put Me Off the Train" (Byron G. Harland) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "The Last Rose of Summer" (Jules Levy at archive.org)
  • "Ma Rag Time Baby" (Peerless Orchestra at archive.org)
  • "The Whistling Bowery Boy" (at archive.org)

    •  
  • An eleven-minute Edison film, The Great Train Robbery, is shown in theaters. (Image courtesy of the Edison Papers at Rutgers University.)
  • Ameta (the skirt dancer)
  • The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter)
  • New York City "Ghetto" Fish Market
  • A Trip to the Moon
  • W. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
  • W.E. B. DuBois,"The Talented Tenth"
  • Henry James, The Ambassadors
  • Jack London, The Call of the Wild
  • Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain
  • Frank Norris, The Pit and The Responsibilities of the Novelist
    		•
    1904
  • Excerpts from "Hot Time March" (Edison Military Band) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" (Columbia Quartette) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Hickory Bill" (Len Spencer and Fred Van Epps) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Nearer, My God, to Thee" (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Good-bye, My Lady Love" (Harry MacDonough) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Come Take a Trip in My Airship" (at archive.org)
  • "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (U.S. Marine Band at archive.org)
  • "Meet Me in St. Louis" (Billy Murray at archive.org)
  • Henry James, The Golden Bowl
  • Jack London, The Sea-Wolf
  •  Robert Herrick, The Common Lot
  • Death of Kate Chopin
    		•
    1905
  • "Everybody Works but Father" (Bob Roberts; comic song) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "My Gal Sal"(Criterion Quartet; RealAudio file from a 1920-1923 recording at the Victrola Site.) This excerpt reproduces the chorus of this 1905  song, which was one of the best-known works of Paul Dresser, Theodore Dreiser's older brother and a famous composer of popular songs at the turn of the century. Another is the 1897 "On the Banks of the Wabash."
  • "Oh, Promise Me" ( Bohumir Kryl)(RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "The Last Rose of Summer" (Adelina Patti, famed soprano from the 1850s on, at archive.org)
  • "The Whistler and his Dog" (at archive.org. You will recognize this tune.)
  • William Dean Howells, "Editha"
  • Charles W. Chesnutt, The Colonel's Dream
  • Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
  •  Robert Herrick, The Memoirs of an American Citizen
    		•
    1906
  • "Out In An Automobile" (RealAudio from Dismuke's site)     (Collins & Harlan) 
  • "Dill Pickles" (Charles L. Johnson; MIDI file) (New link)
  • Excerpts from "The Dixie Rube" (Edison Military Band) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "The Singer was Irish" (Peter Dawson) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Cylinders on the Web)
  • "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes" (Ernest Pike)(RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Cylinders on the Web)
  • "Keep on the Sunny Side"(RealAudio from Robert's Old Schmaltz Archives)
  • "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Only 45 Minutes from Broadway" (Billy Murray at archive.org)
    		• San Francisco Earthquake, April 18, 1906
  • Death of Paul Laurence Dunbar (b. 1872)
  • Jack London, White Fang
  • Mark Twain, What is Man?
  • Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
  • Muckraking articles: Ray Stannard Baker, The Railroads on Trial; David Graham Phillips, The Treason of the Senate.
    		•
    1907
  • "Glow-worm" (Victor Orchestra; recording from 1908-1913; sheet music from 1907) RealAudio from Victrola Music
  • "Maxim's" (from The Merry Widow)(RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "The Bird on Nellie's Hat" (RealAudio from Robert's Old Schmaltz Archives)
  • Gladiolus Rag (Scott Joplin; MIDI file)
  • Henry James, The American Scene
  • 1907-9, New York Edition of James's work
  • Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (privately printed)
  • Edith Wharton, The Fruit of the Tree
  • John T. McCutcheon, Congressman Pumphrey, the People's Friend (popular political humor)
    		•
    1908
  • "Unlawful Trusts," William H. Taft, November 1908.  Part of a speech for the 1908 presidential campaign in which Taft ran against William Jennings Bryan. 
  • Lucia Sextette, Act II (RealAudio)(RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine" (Ada Jones and Billy Murray) (RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Ivanhoe --Two Step" (RealAudio) (Arthur Pryor's Band)(RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "Dill Pickles"(RealAudio version)   (Zon-o-phone Orchestra)(RealAudio file from Dismuke's Site.)
  • "Pineapple Rag" (Scott Joplin; MIDI file)
  • "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Edward Meeker)(RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "Street Piano Medley" (August Molinari; Irish and Italian dialect)(RealAudio file from a wax cylinder recording at Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders.)
  • "My Gal Irene" (at archive.org)
  • "Semper Fidelis March" (U.S. Marine Band at archive.org)
  • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, The Shoulders of Atlas
  • Jack London, The Iron Heel
    		•
    1909
  • "St. Louis Tickle" (RealAudio)  (Vess L. Ossman, the Banjo King)
  • "Baltimore Todolo" (Eubie Blake; MIDI file)
  • "I Love My Wife (But Oh You Kid!)"(RealAudio from Robert's Old Schmaltz Archives)
  • W. C. Handy writes "Memphis Blues," the first blues to be written down. 
    		•
  • His Duty (Mary Pickford; dir. D. W. Griffith)
    		•
  • Gertrude Stein, Three Lives
    		•
  • This page provides a limited sample of the music and films available during the period 1910-1919.  The music links here appear courtesy of the sites listed at the bottom of the page; please visit them for more information about the music of this era. Films are listed with their principal star or director.  Music files on this page are in RealAudio unless otherwise noted.

    Because they reflect the attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices of their times, some materials of this era may be offensive to listeners.  The perspectives expressed in these films or recordings do not represent the attitudes of  the site author.
    To see pictures of wax cylinder phonographs and other early recording equipment, go to http://www.tinfoil.com/gallery.htm

    		•
    Comments to D. Campbell.
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