The Great Gatsby takes place during the summer of 1922. Fitzgerald coined the phrase, "the Jazz Age" that same year to describe the flamboyant—"anything goes"—era that emerged in America after World War I. Find out more about the popular culture and historical events that shaped and defined the 1920s.
Explore the many online exhibits and collections about the 1920s at the Library of Congress and New York Public Library web sites.
The Library of Congress American Memory
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
"Tom and Miss Baker sat at either end of the long couch and she read aloud to him from the The Saturday Evening Post... When we came in she held us silent for a moment with a lifted hand. "To be continued, " she said, tossing the magazine of the table, "in our very next issue." (p. 17)
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Beaded “flapper” evening dress worn by Edith Marks Wilson, wife of Law Professor Lyman P. Wilson, at the formal Inaugural Dinner given by the trustees and faculty to President and Mrs. Livingston Farrand in the Old Armory for about 700 people, including trustees, faculty, and delegates and their wives, October 20, 1921.
The dress is currently on display as part of the Far Above Paradise: F Scott Fitzgerald and Cornell exhibit in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Rotunda, Level 2B, Krock Library.
The Cornell Costume and Textile Collection is planning an exhibit of costumes from the Jazz Age in the fall of 2006.
Search the Cornell University Library Catalog to find even more Jazz Age resources.
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