Gilded Age Years

[Matt Simons]

Does anyone know what the exact dates were from the begining to the end of the gilded age. I am writing a story and need to know if 1870 was part of this era. And also were Masquerades popular in this era, and did they originate in this era.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

1875-1914 might be a safe range to consider for the Gilded Age in America, beginning after Civil War reconstruction and lasting in its final throes to WWI. Mark Twain is said to have coined the phrase-and it was a golden time for those tycoons who had no income tax, and their bejewelled wives who climbed the social ladder. There are many helpful links under this topic and a zillion websites!

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

http://bss.sfsu.edu/cherny/gapesites.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/gildedage/ A couple to get you started. You might also check out some of the films, beginning with the Martin Scorcese masterpiece, The Age of Innocence, based on the novel of that Gilded Age Chronicler, Edith Wharton. If you come to Newport, Rhode Island -there will be plenty of resources to see!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

You might want to bring your date forward a bit, Matt, since the phrase wasn't in use before Mark Twain wrote his novel with that title in 1873. Masquerade parties were certainly popular then, and had been for long before that.

 

[Matt Simons]

Thank You Shelley and Bob. I will read the websites and possibly (if I can get my hands on any) the books. Does the Gilded Age at all apply to France?
Thanks!

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Actually France did sort of parallel the same American dates after Napoleon III and the Second Empire( which was earmarked by an overambitious rebuilding campaign) suffered at the hands of the Prussians and the burning of the Tuileries, the events of 1870 ushered in the Third Republic and its elected president, Marshal Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon (1808-93), in 1873.

Under the Third Republic, peace and prosperity gradually returned, and Paris regained its glamour and world prestige. Universal expositions held in 1878, 1889, 1900, and 1937 encouraged the construction of monuments such as the Trocadéro, the Palais de Chaillot, the Tour Eiffel, the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, and the church Sacré-Coeur. The subway system(the Métro) was constructed, providing a model for subway systems throughout Europe. Titanic victim Frank Millet exhibited some of his canvases at these Paris expositions. Look for more info under "Third Republic of France". You can read Mark Twain's "The Gilded Age " online, and here is a great link for Gilded Age couturier, Worth-with fabulous photos. Worth was probably the most esteemed establishment for Gilded Age ladies of means. You may want to focus in on one aspect of the Gilded Age as the topic is so vast in its scope in so many areas.
http://www.mtwain.com/The_Gilded_Age/1.html
http://www.mcny.org/Collections/costume/worth/worth.htm

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Sorry- here's the activated link for Worth and the dress collection at the Museum of the City of New York
http://www.mcny.org/Collections/costume/worth/worth.htm
and Mark Twain's house in Hartford, and his novel, The Gilded Age online http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/major_works.shtml
http://www.mtwain.com/The_Gilded_Age/1.html

 

[Matt Simons]

Thank You Shelley, that was very informational.

My story focuses on Paris or Lyon (haven't decided which yet). In the era of early 1870's or late 1870's (leaning more towards late because as you mentioned, the early 1870's wasn't much of the Gilded Age).