Media & the Home: How communication technologies changed the design of the American home, 1900 - 2020

• In Event: History Division - Research Presentations (Virtual)
  In Paper Competition: History Division - Research Presentations (Virtual Convention)

Abstract

Today’s home is filled with media and communication technologies. A glance around the house reveals multiple televisions, radios, computers, mobile devices, audio systems, smart home devices, gaming systems, and even the occasional landline phone gathering dust. Yet a house at the start of the 20th century was very different. At best, a home might have contained a single telephone and a phonograph player. Over the course of the 20th century a series of media and communication technologies were introduced and quickly brought into the family home. How did these new technologies shape our homes?
Surprisingly, little research has provided an in-depth look into the extent to which communication technologies lead to innovations in the design and use of American home. This research project seeks to fill gaps in prior research by providing an in-depth examination into how media and communication technologies have led to innovations in the interior design and architecture of the American home. The story starts with the introductions of the telephone and the phonograph at the end of the 19th century and continues as the radio, television, personal computer, Internet, and other related media and communication technologies took their place in the American home. This research project traces each technology as it finds its way into the home and as its place in the home evolves over time. Along the way, this research project examines how the technology changed the home, both from an interior design perspective and from an architectural perspective.

Author

• Charlene N Simmons, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga