FYS: Destiny Research Guide

Guide for the Annotated Bibliography & Research Presentation Assignments

Garfield and The Gilded Age

Background on the Gilded Age

  • The time period is often considered to be 1865-1900.  However, as with most things, there is no universal agreement on the exact time period.  Some historians (including the author of the article below) do not include the years of Reconstruction as part of the Gilded Age.
  • This article from the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History provides a strong yet concise summary of the time period.  
  • Another term for the time period is the Victorian Era; that term is used more by the British than by Americans.