Browse Exhibits (3 total)

The Inspirations Behind Jacob Riis' Writings

Jacob Riis is considered to be one of the most influential figures of the Progressive Era. He championed rights for immigrants, the impoverished, women, and children who resided in urban areas in the Northeast in two ways. First, he established the Jacob A. Riis Settlement House in New York City, which offered direct assistance to the city’s less fortunate populace. Second, he later documented the deplorable conditions of the surrounding slums by writing two books- How the Other Half Lives and The Making of An American-that managed to open the eyes of countless Americans to the suffering and plight these groups experienced on a daily basis. It should be recognized that Jacob Riis’ writings were not only inspired by his experiences as a social reformer but also by his previous years as a foreign vagrant traveling across America for the sole purpose of finding work.

The six documents found in the first section of this exhibit were composed by Riis himself. One of the documents is the introduction to Jacob A. Riis' How the Other Half Lives, and four of the primary sources are lecture notes written at unknown dates during the Progressive Era. The last two documents are derived from two other pieces of literature written by Riis, including The Making of an American.

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Theodore Roosevelt: The Progressive Politician

Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most well-known presidents in American history and was one of the most significant American figures of the 19th century. One of his unique qualities was that he was a member of two political parties at the same time- the Progressive Party (aka the Bull Moose Party) and the Republican Party. Roosevelt’s dual affiliation with two political parties received a mixture of praise and criticism, particularly from the political cartoonists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are a number of political cartoons that depict him and his ties to the Progressive Party.

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Theodore Roosevelt and the Presidential Campaign of 1912

By the time the Presidential Campaign of 1912 took place in the United States, Theodore Roosevelt was already an established political figure. He was known by the American masses as a Rough Rider, trustbuster, New York City Police Commissioner, and conservationist. Yet overtime, Americans began to hold mixed views towards Roosevelt, mainly because of his dual ties with the Progressive Party and the Republican Party. These mixed views were best exemplified by political cartoonists who either characterized the president as an important hero or a disgraceful joke to American politics. The Presidential Campaign of 1912 was a time inAmerican history where opinions on Roosevelt’s ties to the Republican and Progressive Parties received the most attention.

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