Title: 1900: A Year in the Life of America - Genealogy.com
Headings: 1900: A Year in the Life of America
1900: A Year in the Life of America
What was Life Like for Your Ancestors in 1900?
Attitudes
Economy and Technology
Society and Politics
Entertainment and Leisure

Content: Americans were optimistic in 1900. For most of them, life was better materially than it had ever been. This was a time of prosperity -- a new materialism, available leisure time, and vacations for the emerging middle class appeared. America was now the world's most affluent country. Access to electricity, automobiles, and indoor plumbing was not widespread, but most people felt that such conveniences were just a matter of time. For every American, including the working class, there was "possibility." Anything was possible in America. This was the place of the self-made man, the American Dream, "rags to riches." Economy and Technology
With this prosperity and possibility came jobs. Still largely a rural society, Americans increasingly moved to the city looking for work, armed with a belief in the possibilities and a strong work ethic.