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Thomas M. Spencer, America's Public Holidays, 1865–1920. By Ellen M. Litwicki. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. x, 293 pp. $39.95, isbn 1-56098-863-0.), Journal of American History, Volume 88, Issue 3, December 2001, Pages 1112–1113, https://doi.org/10.2307/2700485
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Like their colleag ues in folklore, historians are beginning to probe the meaning of public celebrations and holidays. American historians have done a nice job of exploring the cultural meaning of antebellum celebrations, but only a few recent works examine the celebrations of the pivotal Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In America's Public Holidays, Ellen M. Litwicki examines a large number of new holidays established during this period, both governmentsanctioned holidays and other celebrations.
Litwicki argues that there is a profound difference between holidays that were part of the official culture and those that were part of what John Bodnar has termed the “vernacular culture.” Civic elites planned official holidays to provide an alternative to improper amusements and to teach immigrants American history and the importance of middleclass values to success. The holidays of the vernacular cul ture—those of African Americans, labor unions, and ethnic Americans—presented a particular point of view and emphasized that group's importance in American history.
