Picturing a Crude Past: Primitivism, Public Art, and Corporate Oil Promotion in the United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSS BARRETT
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Civic Architecture

This essay examines the first monument dedicated to the US oil industry, the Drake Memorial in Titusville, Pennsylvania (1899–1901), as an influential project of corporate self-representation. Commissioned by Standard Oil, the memorial shaped a public image for the petroleum industry that addressed concerns about the sustainability and social effects of oil capitalism, and established the key terms for a promotional discourse that would circulate throughout the twentieth century. This discourse, which I call “petro-primitivism,” reimagined the ultramodern oil industry as an extension of timeless practices rooted in an imagined archaic past. By shaping a primitivist spectacle that figured oil as an eternal component of the natural world and a primordial object of “human” endeavor, I argue, the Drake Memorial encouraged audiences to take the long view on oil: to adopt an expansive perspective that reconceived oil as a timelessly abundant element, and the boom-and-bust oil industry as an age-old venture. These tropes proved useful to the industry throughout the crises of the early twentieth century, reappearing in corporate displays and filtering into the rhetoric of industry advertising and publicity. Accordingly, I examine two later projects that appropriated the themes of petro-primitivism: the Sinclair Oil exhibit at the 1933–34 World's Fair, and Sun Oil's exhibit Oil Serves America at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (1953–c.1962). Echoing the earlier Drake Memorial, these displays employed strategies drawn from public art and civic architecture to organize collective experiences around the image of oil. By examining these popular exhibits alongside the Drake Memorial, I aim to offer a new account of the promotional culture of the early petroleum industry that explores the intersections between the traditional arts and industry publicity and illuminates the vital role that cultural representations played in accommodating twentieth-century Americans to the dynamic structures of petro-capitalism.

“Representatives of All that is Noble”: The Rise of the Episcopal Establishment in Early-Twentieth-Century Philadelphia

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-100
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Rzeznik
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Moral Leadership ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe United States has never had an established religion, but, by the early twentieth century, many Episcopalians had come to think of themselves as the nation's religious establishment. No other denomination, they believed, was as well-suited to provide moral leadership for the nation and unite its people in faith. This article argues that their commitment to a national civic mission provided Episcopalians with a sense of collective purpose that diverted attention from internal divisions and helped propel the church to a position of prominence within American religious life. It also reveals how many of the prime proponents and beneficiaries of the church's ascendancy were members of the social and financial elite. Committed to a patrician creed of social responsibility, these “representatives of all that is noble” gained status and moral authority through their public support of the church and its mission. To trace the contours of the Episcopal ascendancy, this article focuses on developments within the Diocese of Pennsylvania, one of the largest, wealthiest, and most influential within the church. Over the course of the early twentieth century, its members overcame their prevailing parochialism, strengthened their denominational identity, and brought their influence to bear on the nation's religious life. Their exercise of religious and cultural authority can be seen in their support of three ecclesiastical projects—the proposed diocesan cathedral, historic Christ Church, and the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge— that helped fashion the public image of the Episcopal Church as the nation's religious establishment.

scholarly journals The Stars and Stripes Wherever: The Impact of Unilateral U.S. Economic Sanctions on the International Petroleum Industry

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
Lynn R. Coleman ◽  
Thomas R. Graham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Economic ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

The authors discuss the impact of American domestic policies and electoral politics on the formulation of the international economic laws of the United States. They note a trend towards the attempted extraterritorial application of American international economic legislation and highlight the significance of the Helms-Burton Actand the Iran (Libya) Oil Sanctions Act in this context. It is suggested that these Acts represent an aggressive attempt by the United States to force its traditional allies and trading partners to conform to American international economic policies, and that if not successfully challenged in international fora they may be followed by other similar pieces of legislation. Finally, special attention is paid to the impact and potential impact on the oil industry of these Acts and other American international economic measures.

scholarly journals A Dozen Images Made in or Near Youngstown, Ohio, That Show Why People Need Both Jobs and Fish

2021 ◽  
pp. 115-137
Author(s):  
Alice Whittenburg
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Steel Workers ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
River Landscape

Economy vs. ecology. That’s one way to frame the debate that once raged in Youngstown, Ohio, between those who focused on the health of the Mahoning River and those who gave priority to the health of the local economy and the jobs it provided. The latter point of view was often stated in terms of ‘Jobs, not fish!’ and its proponents asked: Compared to jobs in steel mills, which make it possible for workers to have homes and a decent way of life, what does it matter that fish can’t live in the river? Initially, the steel industry benefitted a surprisingly small number of people, mostly owners and investors who treated workers as a resource to be exploited, much like the air and water. But later, thanks to union struggles, workers lived well in the Mahoning Valley, and environmental problems, such as a dirty river, were viewed as a necessary evil. In fact, the foulness of the river assured residents that the mills were going strong and were a source of prosperity. In Youngstown today, deindustrialization has made economic insecurity a fact of life, and the Mahoning, once known as the dirtiest river in the United States, is home to many species of fish. The story of the changes that have taken place in the river landscape centers around the supposed incompatibility of having both jobs along the river’s banks and fish in its waters. Ideas from cultural geography can teach us how to view a landscape where so much conflict has played out. When geographer James S. Duncan presented the idea of a landscape as texts which communicate and transmit information, he also argued that reading the landscape can reveal how power relations have played out in a given region. Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo built on similar notions in Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown as they showed how people's memories, experiences, and struggles are represented in the landscape.  Linkon & Russo also noted that conflict and landscape have a reciprocal relationship. ‘Landscapes not only are constructed by economic and social conflict,’ they stated, ‘but also reinforce such divisions of power.’ ( Linkon & Russo, 2002, pp. 15-16). Such a reading of the Mahoning River landscape yields a complex story about the ways people transformed the natural world in order to benefit from it and then lived with the environmental consequences of that transformation. Though this story is very much about how power and class relations have played out there, in the twentieth century such conflict was often overshadowed by tensions between advocates for steel workers and advocates for the river. Recently, however, the growing understanding of the concept of environmental justice, which has been applied to working-class issues by, among others, Christina Robertson & Jennifer Westerman in their call for a working-class ecology (Robertson & Westerman, 2015) and Karen Bell in her agenda for a just transition to sustainability (Bell, 2020), lays the groundwork for alliances between environmentalists and working-class people that were not present when the Mahoning River was an ‘industrial stream.’ Cultural geographers have also shown us that depictions of a landscape contribute to its meaning(s). Building on such ideas,  Linkon & Russo examined the landscape of Youngstown through the lens of images and stories, and this essay will view the more specific landscape of the Mahoning River by examining a dozen images created in or near Youngstown since the early twentieth century. Not all of these images depict the river itself, yet all help to clarify the way the conflict between economy and ecology has played out in the Mahoning Valley.

scholarly journals Progress of Technological Innovation of the United States’ Shale Petroleum Industry Based on Patent Data Association Rules

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6628
Author(s):  
Jong-Hyun Kim ◽  
Yong-Gil Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Association Rules ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Shale Oil ◽  
Patent Data ◽  
Technological Developments

This study analyzed the technological progress of the United States’ shale and tight petroleum (natural gas and crude oil) industry based on the association rules of its patents. According to the findings, although the production of shale oil and gas began in 2007, evidence of increasing technological developments in this industry assessed by patent applications began to appear only in 2010. In addition, the results showed that two distinct technological domains developed in 2010. Moreover, frequently developed technology classification networks are likely to contribute to the growth of this industry.

Between Poland and Germany: Jewish Religious Practices in Illustrated Postcards of the Early Twentieth Century

2003 ◽  
pp. 137-166
Author(s):  
Shalom Sabar
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Common ◽  
Social Message

This chapter assesses the production of Jewish postcards in the early twentieth century. The fact that the Jews in this period wanted to participate in the postcard phenomenon carries an important social message, and, as is implied in the common Hebrew term for the postcard at the time, mikhtav galui (open letter), this desire was clear for all to see. The printing and acquisition of postcards signified acceptance of and support for the public image portrayed upon them. They are therefore a mirror of the ideology and values of turn-of-the-century Jewish society as that society wished to present them. At the same time, the postcards contain valuable ethnographic information about the lives of Jews during those years. The production of Jewish postcards was concentrated in three centres: two in Europe (Germany and Poland) and one in the United States (primarily New York). Germany may be considered the birthplace of the Jewish illustrated postcard: the earliest examples known were produced there in the 1880s. The chapter then considers the portrayal of Jewish religious practices in the postcards.

Philip Roth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ira Nadel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Social History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Philip Roth ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Creative Life

This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his writing, from his relationship with Judaism to family, marriage, Eastern Europe, and America. It addresses his private challenges, from romance and health to surviving as a writer burdened with success. The book also reflects how living outside the United States, initially in Italy and then England, plus his visits to Eastern Europe and exposure to their oppressed writers, affected his writing. In particular, it primed him for a new engagement with American political and social history, resulting in a renewed determination to rewrite America through his American trilogy and The Plot Against America. Although chronology is the framework, this is a thematic reading of Roth’s life and career with attention to family, self-identity, and success. A set of contrasting angles form this approach, beginning with his prolonged sense of discontent yet public image of success, his search for sustained relationships but then decision to end them, his idealization of his parents but persistent undercurrent of criticism. Three overlapping issues provide the impetus for this reading: the aesthetic, the emotional, and the historical. The lasting importance of such themes as anger, betrayal, and failure has a vital role in understanding Roth’s character and work. So, too, does his sense of performance on and off the page.

Oil Culture: Guest Editors' Introduction

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSS BARRETT ◽  
DANIEL WORDEN
Keyword(s):  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Economic

This special issue advances the first comprehensive account of “oil culture,” the broad field of cultural representations and symbolic forms that have taken shape around the fugacious material of oil in the 150 years since the inception of the US petroleum industry. Exploring the cultural life of oil from a variety of methodological perspectives, the essays in this special issue seek to elucidate the complex role that imaginative representations have played in establishing and contesting oil's status as the primary commodity underpinning modern economic expansion and a fundamental ontological construct shaping social and political life in the United States and beyond. By addressing the rise of oil as a cultural problem, this issue aims to fill a significant gap in oil scholarship and to intervene in what has become an epochal and highly charged moment in the history of petro-capitalism.

The Rain Calls of Frogs and the Reigning Paradigm of American Herpetology

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Gordon L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Gradual Disappearance ◽  
The Times ◽  
Traditional Natural ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
The Comparative Study

American zoologists and herpetologists during the past fifty years have successfully deciphered the mating calls of frogs and toads with ever increasing precision and sophistication. However, the vocalizations most commonly termed “rain calls,” which typically occur beyond both normal breeding seasons and breeding sites, have remained a persistent puzzle. This article traces the gradual disappearance of rain calls, along with a corresponding decline in any mention of emotional states, from herpetological studies of anuran vocalizations in the United States from the middle of the twentieth century to the present and examines the historical roots of this disappearance. This evaporation of rain calls is indicative of a much larger change in the scientific climate of the times involving the transition from traditional natural history to the Neo-Darwinian, adaptationist paradigm of contemporary biology. Rain calls thus increasingly became anomalous, thereby eliminating a possibly fruitful line of inquiry in the comparative study of human-animal communication, in this case with evolution's earliest vocalizers. The contours and benefits of a more encompassing paradigm, envisioned by some leading early twentieth-century zoologists, are briefly discussed.

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