Long Term Project # 5

							Long Term Project # 5 : The Gilded Age Newspaper, 1877 to 1910
The term “The Gilded Age” was first applied to this time period by Mark Twain with the
publishing of The Gilded Age, a novel written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner
about the 1800s era of corruption and exploitation at the expense of the public welfare.
Published in 1873, The Gilded Age was Twain's first extended work of fiction and mapped
him in the literary world as an author rather than journalist.


You are responsible to write, edit, and print a retrospective news magazine
which could have appeared during the Gilded Age. You are the editor and
reporter, although you can assume a fictional byline name for the news
stories. Required items # 3 and # 4 must be written in persona, first person
format. As a retrospective news magazine, the persons and events that you
write about do not need to all be from the same year, but must have been
alive or taken place during the period. You may write in late 19th century
style if you choose, however, modern formal usage is always a good choice.
You must include all thirteen items listed :
1. one front page/main story           (500 to 700 words)
2. two additional important stories            (300 to 500 words)
3. one editorial written in the first person responding to some event
       (200 to 300 words)
4. two letters to the editor written by real historic figures alive during this
time (in persona)
5. two obituaries of actual historical people who died during this period.
6. two visuals (possibilities include maps, charts, graphs, photos, cartoons)
7. two items of trivia/human interest (possibilities include advertisements,
lost and found, want ads, book reviews, sports articles)
8. A BIBLIOGRAPHY, in proper format, is REQUIRED for this project.




                           Due Feb 4 (Day 6)
1. Possible topics to be covered :
presidential elections                               Native American issues
farmers’ problems                                    union organization
political bosses/ political “machines”               rise of retailing
transportation networks                              business organizations
literature of the day                                food producers
inventions                                           social darwinists
militarists/jingoists                                Social Gospel work
philanthropy                                         rise of sports (team/individual)
leisure activities                                   immigration issues
urban problems


2. You must select people from the following list (or submit alternatives for PRIOR
APPROVAL) for the various stories/editorials/obituaries :
John D. Rockefeller                  Andrew Carnegie                Ulysses S. Grant
J.P. Morgan                          Cornelius Vanderbilt           Rutherford B. Hayes
Collis P. Huntington                 James J. Hill                  James Garfield
Charles Pillsbury                    Philip Armour                  Chester Arthur
Gustavus Swift                       R.H. Macy                      Benjamin Harrison
Richard Sears                        Alvah Roebuck                  Grover Cleveland
Aaron Montgomery Ward                Alexander Stewart              William McKinley
Samuel S. McClure                    Admiral Alfred T. Mahan
William Randolph Hearst              William G. Sumner
Edward W. Bok                        Leland Stanford
Theodore Roosevelt                   James Duke
George Pullman                       George Westinghouse
Thomas Edison                        George Eastman
Samuel Gompers                       James Weaver
William Jennings Bryant              Jay Gould
Jim Fisk                             William “Boss” Tweed


As always, you will learn more if choose individuals and events with which you are
not already familiar.
GILDED AGE NEWSPAPER GRADING RUBRIC :

You must include all thirteen items listed :
1. one front page/main story      (500 to 700 words)
             35 points
2. two additional important stories      (300 to 500 words)
             25 points each (50 total)
3. one editorial written in the first person responding to some event
      (200 to 300 words)          20 points
4. two letters to the editor written by real historic figures alive during this
time (in persona)          15 points each (30 total)
5. two obituaries of actual historical people who died during this period.
             10 points each (20 points total)
6. two visuals (possibilities include maps, charts, graphs, photos, cartoons)
             5 points each (10 points total)
7. two items of trivia/human interest (possibilities include advertisements,
lost and found, want ads, book reviews, sports articles)
             10 points each (20 points total)
8. A BIBLIOGRAPHY, in proper format, is REQUIRED for this project.
             15 points



Grand total : 200 points