Roadside America

Some links to explore:

Bill Steigerwald’s blog, which turned into his book Dogging Steinbeck, http://truthaboutcharley.com/

See also his YouTube playlist of videos and images taken on his 2010 trip retracing the route

Conde Nast Traveler Article on actor Nick Offerman’s RV road trip with his wife, which turned into a just-released (?Steinbeck-esque) book on how people relate to the land, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play.

Bonus: Offerman discusses the new book on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, just last night (18 Nov 2021)

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (stars of I Love Lucy), doing a promo for their 1953 comedy about the RV life, The Long, Long Trailer.

Two Lane Blacktop links, if needed

Links for today:

Giant pre-1955 US Highway Map

1950 Trip-Planning Map (David Rumsey Map Collection)

Interactive Google Maps of Kerouac’s 4 Roadtrips (Dennis Mansker)

Interactive OTR Map, with Quotes

Mapping Kerouac, A Digital Humanities Project (2018, Honors students at Randolph-Macon College, using Dennis Mansker’s maps)

Kerouac’s own hand-drawn map for 1947-1948

Room Map of the Day

Recommended reading:

David Hopkins, “To Be or Not to Bop: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and the Culture of Bebop and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues,” Popular Music May 2005, 24 (2): 279-286.

Sal’s soundtrack:

Charlie Parker, Ornithology

Lionel Hampton, Hey Ba Ba Re Bop

George Shearing, Bop Look and Listen

Dizzy Gillespie, Bebop

Slim Gaillard, Cement Mixer

Beethoven, Overture to Fidelio

Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, The Hunt

Some guides to Beat poets and writers:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/147552/an-introduction-to-the-beat-poets

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/03/02/where-start-beat-generation

https://poets.org/text/brief-guide-beat-poets

Wikipedia article: Beat Generation (remember what we learned about how to critically read these!)

Dinah Shore, “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet” (1952-1961)

This song was rated by Ad Age as No. 5 among the top 10 ad jingles of the 20th century.

Bonus ad: “Two Ford Family” (1956)

How Library Stuff Works: Peer Review (McMaster Libraries)

Library homepage

• Subject Guides
• Databases we subscribe to – Recommended for us: JSTOR, ProQuest History Research Library
• Research 101
• Tutorials – Navigating Databases

Dr. Hangen’s CV (Curriculum Vitae)

More on note-taking strategies and the Cornell Method (Cornell U)

Begin here:

Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” Photographs in the FSA Collection (Library of Congress Research Guide)

Then explore and search FSA images:

Suggested search terms are in the assignment guidelines, you can also search by photographer’s name or by location. To find non-white photo subjects, use terms from the time including negro, colored, mulatto, Mexican, Okies, and Indian. Also try migrant / migratory, Dust Bowl, picker, sharecropper, tenant, farmer, laborer (day laborer, agricultural day laborer), street, highway, road, roadside, cafe, tourist, camp (labor camp, mobile camp), trailer, truck.

FSA – Black and White (Library of Congress)

FSA – Color (Library of Congress)

Dorothea Lange Digital Archive

FSA Images (Digital Public Library of America)

You can also use any images from the news articles provided as Monday / Wednesday’s reading (see previous post)

For more information, while writing up your analysis:

About the FSA Collection (12-minute video, Library of Congress)

Learning from the FSA Collection (12-minute video, Library of Congress)

Room Map of the Day

Background Reading:
Read for Monday, review for Wednesday

Excerpt from John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

Short overview of photographs taken by the Farm Security Administration (FSA)

Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” Photographs in the FSA Collection (Library of Congress Research Guide) [More at the Dorothea Lange Digital Archive]

Eschner, “Meet 10 Depression-Era Photographers who Captured the Struggle of America,” Smithsonian Magazine (2017)

Boxer, “Whitewashing the Great Depression,” The Atlantic (Dec 2020)

Past and Present Connections:

Migrant Camps: 1935 / 2021

1867: On This Date, Worcester Office of Freedmen’s Bureau opens

NYT: “Liberty Village,” tent city in New Jersey for Afghan evacuees (9/25/21)