Near the turn of the 20th century, magazine journalists began to draw attention to the hazards associated with patent medicines, building an agenda for policy reform. Patent medicines, which appeared in the form of cure-alls, headache remedies, and soothing syrups, emerged long before the federal government regulated substances such as morphine and cocaine, and nostrums often included these substances in addition to alcohol.
This monograph examines magazine coverage of patent medicines before and after the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 became law. In addition, given research questions that implicitly or explicitly conclude with policy implementation, studies have tended to analyze materials prior to the passage of legislation with little attention paid to subsequent reporting. It reinforced other memory studies about contemporary usefulness of the past, and agrees with Higham's contention that the century's journalistic reports created the initial awareness of the nation's history.Īlthough studies in mass communication and investigative journalism have examined associations between newspaper reporting and policy formation, little research has focused on the policy influence of magazine coverage. This study found historical continuity in contrast to Lipsitz and a repeated national institutional core as opposed to Wiebe. Journalistic textual silences were the histories of most women, African Americans, Native Americans and immigrants. References to past people, events and institutions reiterated a particular national history, not only to those long settled, but also to new immigrants.
By connecting the present to the past, journalists highlighted an American story worth remembering during a time of nation-building, increased magazine circulation, and rise of feature stories. Primarily used for context and placement, historical references often noted the country's origins, leaders and wars, particularly the Civil War. Based primarily on almost 2,000 magazine article titles, the authors found a marked increase in historical referents by 1900. This study examines how nineteenth-century American journalism used history.
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