FACT SHEET
CU-Boulder, Colorado, the U.S.A. 1899-1999
Following are facts about CU-Boulder and Colorado at the turn of the century, including an overview of the role of women in Colorado society in 1899, Colorado labor issues, changes in the structure of the American family and changes in American music since 1899.
For more information, contact Greg Swenson in CU-Boulder's Office of News Services, at (303) 492-3113.
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER 1899
o In 1899 CU's graduating class had 22 students. The three graduating classes (spring, summer and fall) for 1999 will total about 6,700.
o In 1899, CU had 26 graduate students. In fall 1999 alone, CU-Boulder will award 365 master聮s degrees and 118 doctoral degrees.
o In 1899 CU had 71 faculty members and assistants. In 1999, CU-Boulder has about 2,000 full-time and temporary/part-time instructional faculty.
o In 1899, the university聮s library book collection of 20,000 volumes was stored in the basement of Old Main. The CU-Boulder library system is now home to nearly 11 million books, periodicals, government publications, audiovisual and other materials.
o The football program was less than a decade old and was coached by F.G. Folsom, for whom CU-Boulder聮s football stadium is named.
o Glee Club and Mandolin Club were two of the more popular student activities.
o CU-Boulder appeared to be in danger in spring of 1899 when the state was unable to meet its appropriations, forcing President James H. Baker to ask the citizens and banks of Colorado for money. He was able to secure a $70,000 loan.
o In the spring of 1899, three University of Colorado students were able to transmit electromagnetic waves from one end of the Hale Science Building to the other without the use of wires. By the end of the semester, the students were transmitting the waves 1.5 miles under the watchful eye of Professor William Duane, the great-great-great grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Duane Physics Building was also named after the professor. In 1999, CU-Boulder students are using electromagnetic waves to control and collect data 340 miles above Earth from the Earth-orbiting Student Nitric Explorer Satellite, or SNOE, launched by NASA in 1998 and designed, built and controlled primarily by students.
o The School of Applied Science, now known as the College of Engineering and Applied Science, had 51 students -- a huge increase from the two students who made up the school when it was formally established in 1883. The college now has degree programs in 13 different fields of engineering, including such modern disciplines as aerospace, telecommunications and computer science. The college in 1999 has 3,600 undergraduate and graduate students.
o The graduating class did not wear caps and gowns in 1899. The Class of 1901 was the first to wear caps and gowns at the commencement exercises.
o The class cheer was "Ain聮t we fine, ain聮t we fine, We聮re the class of Ninety-nine."
Women in Colorado 1899
Contact Diane Harrison Werne, history graduate student
(303) 492-6683.
o Women in Colorado had possessed full suffrage for seven years. Suffrage for women nationally was not achieved until passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
o Three women occupied seats in the State House of Representatives: Dr. Mary F. Barry, a physician practicing in Pueblo; Mrs. Frances S. Lee, a one-time Denver teacher; and Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright.
They were instrumental in passage of the following legislation in the 1899 session: comprehensive education mandated for children between 8 and 14 years old; kindergartens provided in schools; creation of county high schools; creation of a library commission; making the columbine the official state flower; an exemption law exempting sewing machines, bicycles and other articles of the poor from attachments; a mechanic聮s lien law; and protecting the rights of laborers.
o Mrs. Helen S. Grenfell of Denver was the Colorado State Superintendent of Schools.
o Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker, founding president of the Woman聮s Club of Denver was president of the Colorado State Board of Charities and Corrections. She became the national president of the nearly 1 million-member General Federation of Women聮s Clubs from 1904 to 1908.
o In 1900 about 25 percent of Denver women were classified in the census as breadwinners.
Labor in Colorado in 1899
Contact John Enyeart, history graduate student
(303) 492-2919.
o Utah had the first state eight-hour law as part of its constitution, but Colorado workers successfully saw the eight-hour bill made law in 1899. However, the state supreme court found the law unconstitutional on the grounds that the legislature didn聮t have the power to limit the working day hours of laborers. Later a women聮s eight-hour law was passed.
o The Western Labor Union grew out of the Western Federation of Miners to create an organization representing Western miners. The new union challenged the American Federation, a powerful organization at the time. The Western Labor Union believed that the American Federation catered to the East and was dangerous to Western workers, as were Eastern capitalists.
o The Colorado State Federation of Labor became active in politics. The federation remained non-partisan but helped push through important legislation. In 1902, the unions president, D.C. Coates, was elected lieutenant governor of the state.
The American Family in the 20th Century
Contact Patti Adler, professor of sociology,
(303) 449-3021
Significant changes have occurred to the institution of the American family over the last half of the 20th century.
At the mid-point, America was fresh from a war and settling down to suburban, domestic bliss. Women who had been pulled into war industry jobs returned home, and the "traditional" nuclear family pattern was established. Many people now wax nostalgistically for the lifestyle of the single-earner household with the father as the breadwinner and the mother staying home to raise the children. Neighborhoods were stable and a majority of households had two to three children under 18.
Since that time, several transformations have rocked the structure of the American family, raising questions about its functioning and future. These include divorce, family violence, remarriage, blended families, single-parent families, dual-career families, commuter families, childless families and non-married families.
The "typical family at the millennium is likely to take one of four alternative forms: the two-wage-earner family, the single-parent family, the blended family from remarriage, or the empty nest couple whose children have grown up and moved out. In addition to these forms, many will spend significant parts of their lives living apart from their families as single young adults, divorced singles or older people who have lost a spouse.
Much of the image of the simple, traditional family model has turned out to be a myth, as family unity and continuity have been elusive for centuries and the forced nature of family membership often made them unhappy, dysfunctional situations. When the divorce rate shot up and stabilized in the 1970s, new norms became institutionalized. People no longer think that men or women who do not marry are "sick, immoral or selfish," as they did in 1957. Yet, the United States still has the highest marriage rate throughout Western society, signifying the strong value Americans place on the concepts of intimacy, romantic love and family.
The great preponderance of contemporary families still remain committed to bearing and raising children. As we move into the next century, families are
struggling to adapt to new realities and an uncertain future. Changes in women聮s lives, their gender roles, the world of work, age-related expectations, and social norms have created a climate where people are innovating with the new family forms that have been developed.
Americans have an opportunity to build on the new family foundations that have been created in recent decades to help realize a more creative, flexible and inclusive future than the one embodied by our monolithic family past.
Changes in American Music Since 1900
Contact Thomas Riis, professor of musicology,Director of the American Music Research Center, (303) 492-7540.
Change in American music since 1900 has been phenomenal. In the popular realm alone, people were listening to so-called Tin Pan Alley favorites a century ago. Peppy and sentimental songs like "Bicycle Built for Two," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," "In the Good Old Summertime" and "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" were all the rage.
By 1900 the new fad was ragtime, a syncopated music that was tough to sing but fun to listen and dance to. The ragtime craze marked the beginning of pop music dominance by African Americans, which has lasted up to the present day. Rag musicians were followed by city blues singers like Bessie Smith and New Orleans jazz including the phenomenal virtuosity of Louis Armstrong in the 1920s.
During the 1930s and '40s Big Bands held sway, playing swing style music but still featuring some of the great improvisation players of early jazz. Black bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington and countless others brought jazz to audiences black and white all over the country and the world.
After the Second World War, the new black pop style called rhythm-and-blues went mainstream and was called rock-n-roll. In this period black Gospel music left the church and also entered the popular market.
Hip-hop is the latest musical style that once again calls attention to what has been an overwhelming African American presence in this century聮s formation of American popular culture.