cult

Wilderness as a Fad

Fads

How are ideas connected to action?

if just a few writers have an idea it won't necessarily have an impact
if an idea spreads and becomes popular it is more likely to have an impact
because public opinion affects what government does
most changes relevant to the environment come from changes in government policy
though you can have an impact instead by persuading people to change their behavior
new policy needs to be carried out or enforced

How the idea spreads:
Wilderness experience became a fad in the early 20th century U.S.

How was life changing at that time?

big textile factories grew up by 1830s
telegraph 1840s
the railroad system is quite complete by the 1880s--travel cross-country becomes safe and easy
refrigerated railroad cars--more food could be shipped from a distance
more people worked in factories and lived in cities than lived and worked on farms
telephone commonly available in cities by 1890s
by 1900 electric power is commonly available in cities
after 1910 the automobile becomes widespread
first successful airplane flight 1903
radio broadcasting becomes available in early 1920s

People were living in an increasingly urban and technological world, became aware that they had less contact with nature and regretted it.

"American Progress," by George Crogutt, 1873.

goddess-like figure of progress over pioneers moving west

Frederick Jackson Turner--The Frontier in American History

the frontier resulted in American individualism and democracy
the first transcontinental railroad opened in 1869
by the 1890s the frontier was gone
there was still uninhabited land but in chunks here and there--there was no longer a line that settlement reached this far and beyond that line was wilderness.
people worried that the United States was going to lose those characteristics that had made it great, because some believed those came from the frontier
industry had become more important than agriculture.
several ideas arose as ways to preserve that American character made possible by the frontier

Popularity of Boy Scouting was because people saw it as an answer

originated in England but took a distinctively American shape
Boy Scout Handbook taught how to live in the wilderness
build character by teaching wilderness skills (which weren't very useful any more)
how does wilderness fit into the boy scout idea of how to help boys grow up to be better men?

Wilderness experience (and hunting) would turn you from a weakling into a man

think of Tarzan
history of gender roles:

colonial times--division of labor but men and womens work both needed, worked in same place
before civil war--women's place is in the home--cult of domesticity
women take a larger public role around the turn of the century (get vote in 1920)

masculinity: rational intelligence, angry, strong, independent, decisionmaking
going out in the wilderness was a way of making men more masculine

Women instead adopted the idea that wilderness was a way to get closer to God or talked about experiencing the sublime

Olmstead, who designed Central Park in New York, said "we grow more and more artificial by the day"

He developed an early plan for Yosemite National park
He believed that "nature [could] be arranged by art and managed by law and at the same time retain its sublime aspect" (source)

in the mid 19th century only a small group was interested in wilderness
by the early 20th century enthusiasm for wilderness has become much more common

This page written and copyright Pamela E. Mack

last updated 10/9/09
Hist 124