Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

Film Resources

Compiled by Jude Schanzer, Director of Public Relations and Programming, East Meadow (N.Y.) Public Library

Ragtime (1981).
Producers: Dino De Laurentiis Company and Sunley Productions Ltd.
Director: Milos Forman
Writers: E.L. Doctorow (novel), Heinrich von Kleist (story), Michael Weller (screenplay)
Cast: James Cagney; Elizabeth McGovern; Howard Rollins Jr., Moses Gunn
Awards: Nominated for eight Oscars; nominated for seven Golden Globes. Won Image Award for Best Supporting Actor—Moses Gunn
Rated: PG
Running Time: 2 hr. 35 min.

Book Discussion Resources

Compiled by Marion Wrenn, PhD

Ken Burns’ documentary series New York (volume 1, episode 1)

Film Comment (for their reviews of the film)

Tom Wolfe, “Stalking the Billion-footed Beast: A Literary Manifesto for the New Social Novel” (subscription required), Harper’s Magazine (Nov 1989). (Note: This essay was used as context for almost all of the books in the series.)

David Denby, “The New Disorder: Adventures in Flm Narrative,” The New Yorker (Mar.  5, 2007).

Homi Bhaba, Nation and Narration (New York: Routledge, 1990).

Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

C. W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination (London: Oxford University Press, 1959).

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, rev. ed. (London: Verso, 1991). 

Neil Postman,  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York: Penguin, 1985).

Robert Pinsky, “Shirt,” The Want Bone (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990).

Major Jackson, “Pest,” Callaloo 22, no. 3 (summer 1999): 986.

Yusef Kominyakaa, “Venus’s-flytraps,” Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2001).

Yusef Kominyakaa, “The Deck,” Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2001).

Yusef Kominyakaa, “Blackberries,” Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2001).

Art Resources

Compiled by Barbara Applegate, Dir. Hillwood Art Museum, Long Island University, C.W. Post campus

Title: Ohio Statehouse
Creator: Henry Walter, mid 19th century, American; Thomas Cole, 1801–1848, American; Martin Euclid Thompson, ca. 1786–1877, American; Alexander Jackson Davis, 1803–1892, American West; William Russell, 19th century, American; Nathan B. Kelley, 19th century, American; Isaiah Rogers, 1800–1869, American; Richard Upjohn, 1802-1878, American
View Description: exterior, facade
Work Type: Capitol
Date: creation date: 1839–1861
Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Material: construction: limestone
Style Period: Greek Revival
Collection: SAHARA
ID Number: Record: 117247
Source: Photographer: G. E. Kidder (George Everard Kidder) Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rights: © Rotch Visual Collections; Kidder Smith Collection. All rights reserved by copyright owner; consult Rotch Visual Collections.

Title: Course of Empire: Planned installation in Luman Reed’s Gallery
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848
Culture: American
Work Type: Drawing
Date: 1833
Location: United States
Material: Pen and ink over pencil
Measurements: 26.7 x 32.4 cm
Style Period: Romantic
Repository: Detroit Institute of Art
Subject: Series
Collection: Binghamton University Visual Resources: Digital Image Collection
ID Number: 322195 06.2160 P19A 2  7 A
Source: Andrew Wilton and Tim Barringer, American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States 1820–1880 (New York: Princeton University Press, 2002); data from SUNY Binghamton

Title: Course of Empire: Savage State
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848
Date: 1836
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 39x63"
Subject: Allegory, Landscape, Nature, Painting-United States -- 19th C. A.D, Romanticism
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Course of Empire: The Pastoral or Arcadian State
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848
Date: 1836
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 99.7 x 160.6 cm
Repository: New-York Historical Society
Subject: Allegory, Innocence (Psychology), Landscape, Painting -- United States -- 19th C. A.D, Paradise, Shepherds
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Course of Empire: Consummation
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848
Date: 1836
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 39 x 63 in
Repository: New York State Historical Association
Subject: Allegory, Cityscapes, Empire, Landscape, Painting -- United States -- 19th C. A.D, Romanticism
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Course of Empire: Destruction
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848.
Work Type: Oil paintings.
Date: 1836.
Material: Canvas.
Measurements: 38 1/2 x 62 1/2 inches.
Style Period: Romantic.
Description: Painting categorized as “professional” in catalog. Oil on canvas.
Repository: New-York Historical Society.
Subject: Painting, American -- 19th century, allegories
Collection: The Carnegie Arts of the United States Collection
Source: data from University of Georgia Libraries

Title: Course of Empire: Desolation
Creator: Thomas Cole, 1801–1848
Date: 1836
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 39 1/4x63 1/4"
Repository: New York State Historical Association
Subject: Allegory, Landscape, Painting -- United States -- 19th C. A.D, Romanticism, Ruins
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Brooklyn Bridge
Creator: John Augustus Roebling, 1806-1869, American, and Washington Augustus Roebling, 1837–1926, American
View Description: general view, detail view of tower with cables
Work Type: Bridge (Built work)
Date: 1870–1883
Location: New York, New York, United States
Material: construction: limestone, granite, cement, steel
Style Period: Gothic Revival
Collection: SAHARA
ID Number: Record: 117024
Source: Photographer: G. E. Kidder (George Everard Kidder) Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rights: © Rotch Visual Collections; Kidder Smith Collection. All rights reserved by copyright owner; consult Rotch Visual Collections

Title: Brooklyn Bridge with Pier 21 Pennsylvania R.R., Manhattan
Creator: Berenice Abbott, 1898–1991
Date: 1937
Subject: Photography -- 20th C. A.D
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Brooklyn Bridge, New York
Creator: Walker Evans, 1903–1975
Date: 1929
Subject: Photography -- 20th C. A.D
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Brooklyn Bridge
Creator: John Marin, North American, 1870–1953
Work Type: Prints
Date: 1911
Material: etching on paper
Measurements: plate: 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.8 x 21.6 cm.)
Description: lower right in plate: Marin/11; Artist’s proof; Full view
Repository: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA; Museum purchase 1982.55
Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection; Formerly in The AMICO Library
ID Number: SAAM.1982.55
Source: date from Smithsonian American Art Museum

Title: Brooklyn Bridge
Creator: John Marin, North American, 1870–1953
Work Type: Drawings and Watercolors,
Date: ca. 1912
Material: Watercolor and charcoal on paper
Measurements: H. 18-5/8, W. 15-5/8 in. (47.3 x 39.7 cm)
Collection: The Image Gallery; Formerly in The AMICO Library
ID Number: MMA_.49.70.105
Source: date from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title: Brooklyn Bridge, on the Bridge
Creator: John Marin, North American, 1870–1953
Work Type: Drawings
Date: 1930
Material: Watercolor on paper
Measurements: Image: 21 3/4 x 26 3/4 in. (55.2 x 67.9c m) Frame: 30 11/16 x 34 3/4 in. (77.9 x 88.3 cm)
Description: Signed: Lower right: Marin 30
Repository: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.95 The artist; John Marin family; Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, New York; Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1981; Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d’art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 178, 201; ill. pp. 179 (color), 201 (black & white).
Collection: The Image Gallery Formerly in The AMICO Library
Source: Image and origianla data provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Title: Brooklyn Bridge
Creator: Joseph Stella, American, b. Italy, 1877–1946
Work Type: Paintings
Period 20th century
Date: 1919–1920
Material: Oil on canvas
Measurements: 215.3 x 194.6 cm (84 3/4 x 76 5/8 in.)
Repository: Yale University Art Gallery, American Paintings and Sculpture; gift of Collection Société Anonyme
Accession Number: 1941.69
Collection: Yale University Art Gallery
ID Number: 44306
Source: Image and original data provided by Yale University

Title: Bridge
Creator: Joseph Stella, American, b. Italy, 1877–1946
Work Type: painting
Date: 1936
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 50 1/8 in. x 30 1/8 in. (127.32 cm x 76.52 cm)
Accession Number: 3760.43
Subject: arches; cables; lines; circles; bridges; cities; sweeping; symmetry
Collection: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
ID Number: 285
Source: Image and original data provided by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art http://www.sfmoma.org/
.

Title: The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme
Creator: Joseph Stella
Work Type: Paintings
Date: 1939
Location: Exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art, 23 April-22 August 1999
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 70" x 42" (177.8 x 106.7 cm)
Description: Photographer: Larry Qualls
Repository: Collection Whitney Museum of American Art (42.15)
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: Image and original data provided by Larry Qualls

Title: Broolyn Bridge
Creator: Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887–1986
Date: 1948
Material: oil on masonite
Repository: Brooklyn Museum of Art
Subject: Painting -- United States -- 20th C. A.D
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego
Rights: © 2005 The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Title: Chrysler Building
Creator: William Van Alen, American, 1882–1954
Work Type: Architecture
Date: 1928–1930
Location: New York City
Material: Steel
Measurements: 1,048' high
Style Period: Modern
Description: View
Repository: In Situ
Collection: SUNY Binghamton Visual Resources Collection
ID Number: A-A:NY 11 E 04.1982
Source: date from SUNY Binghamton

Creator: William Van Alen, American, 1882–1954
Title: Chrysler Building
Work Type: Architecture
Date: 1928-30
Location: New York City
Material: Steel
Measurements: 1,048' high
Style Period: Modern
Description: Tower
Repository: In Situ
Collection: Binghamton University Visual Resources: Digital Image Collection
ID Number: A-A:NY 11 E 02.310
Source: Architecture, Trachtenberg, Marvin, 2002; date from SUNY Binghamton

Title: On Chrysler Building, photo by Oscar Graubner
Creator: Margaret Bourke-White, American, 1906–1971
Culture: American
Work Type: Reference General
Date: 1933
Style Period: Modern
Subject: Documentation, Reference
Collection: Binghamton University Visual Resources: Digital Image Collection
ID Number: 99272 95.2241 PHOTO 20 A REF
Source: Image: Margaret Bourke-White: a biography, Goldberg, Vicki, 1986; date from SUNY Binghamton

Title: The migration gained in momentum
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–1941
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm)
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.9
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78556
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with people leaving that special guards had to be called in to keep order
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–1941
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Description: The Migration of the Negro, panel no. 12
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art
Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.6
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78553
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: The migrants arrived in great numbers
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–41
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art; gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.20
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78539
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: Among one of the last groups to leave the South was the Negro professional who was forced to follow his clientele to make a living
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–1941
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Description: The Migration of the Negro, panel no. 56
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art
Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.28
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78547
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: Industries attempted to board their labor in quarters that were oftentimes very unhealthy. Labor camps were numerous
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–1941
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm)
Description: The Migration of the Negro, panel no. 46
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art
Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.23
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78542
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: Among the social conditions that existed which was partly the cause of the migration was the injustice done to the Negroes in the courts
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Painting
Date: 1940–1941
Material: Tempera on gesso on composition board
Measurements: 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm)
Description: The Migration of the Negro, panel no. 14
Repository: The Museum of Modern Art
Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession Number: 28.1942.7
Collection: The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture
ID Number: 78554
Source: Image and original data provided by the The Museum of Modern Art

Title: Tombstones
Creator: Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917–2000
Work Type: Paintings
Drawings and Watercolors
Date: 1942
Location: Exhibited at DC Moore Gallery, Spring 1999
Material: gouache on paper
Measurements: 28 3/4’ x 22 1/2’
Description: Photographer: Larry Qualls
Repository: Whitney Museum of American Art
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: Image and original data provided by Larry Qualls
Rights: © 2007 Estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Title: Above New York
Creator: Reginald Marsh, American, 1898–1954
Work Type: Works on Paper
Period 20th century
Date: 1922
Material: Brush in black ink, black crayon over pencil
Measurements: Sheet: 57.2 x 43.2cm (22 1/2 x 17in.)
Repository: Yale University Art Gallery, Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
http://artgallery.yale.edu/
Bequest of Mabel van Alstyne Marsh.
Accession Number: 1965.54.20
Collection: Yale University Art Gallery
ID Number: 22446
Source: Image and original data provided by Yale University

Title: Why Not Use the L
Creator: Reginald Marsh, American, 1898–1954
Date: 1930
Subject: Genre, Painting -- United States -- 20th C. A.D, Urban life
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego
Rights: © 2005 Estate of Reginald Marsh / Art Students League, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Title: Tattoo and Haircut
Creator: Reginald Marsh, American, 1898–1954
Date: 1932
Material: oil on canvas
Measurements: 46 1/2x 47 7/8"
Repository: Art Institute of Chicago
Subject: Painting -- United States -- 20th C. A.D
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego
Rights: © 2005 Estate of Reginald Marsh / Art Students League, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Creator: Reginald Marsh, American, 1898–1954
Title: Crowd of unemployed
Date: ca. 1932
Description: B164555 U.S. Copyright Office. Illus. in: Fortune, vol. 6, 1932 Sept., p. 18. Reproduction of drawing by Reginald Marsh. Reference copy in LOT 4403.
Subject: Social Issues
Collection: The Image Gallery
ID Number: LC-USZC4-2861; 3G02861
Source: Image and original data from Vincent Virga and Curators of the Library of Congress, with commentary by Alan Brinkley, Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States (Charlestown, Mass.: Bunker Hill Publishing, 2004).

Title: J.P. Morgan Platinum Print
Creator: Edward Steichen, 1879-1973
Date: 1903
Subject: Photography -- 20th C. A.D
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: data from University of California, San Diego

Title: Eviction (Lower East Side)
Creator: Everett Shinn, American, 1876–1953
Work Type: Drawings and Watercolors
Date: 1904
Material: gouache on paper mounted on paperboard
Measurements: sheet: 8 3/8 x 13 1/8 in. (21.3 x 33.3 cm.)
Description: lower right in gouache: E. Shinn 1904 Full View
Repository: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design 1963.11.2
Collection: The Image Gallery Formerly in The AMICO Library
ID Number: SAAM.1963.11.2
Source: date from Smithsonian American Art Museum

Title: Chez Mouquin
Creator: William Glackens, American, 1870–1938
Date: 1905
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Material: oil/canvas
Measurements: 122x92cm.
Collection: Art History Survey Collection
Source: data from Digital Library Federation Academic Image Cooperative

Title: Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California
Creator: Dorothea Lange
Work Type: Photographs
Date: 1936
Location: Exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art, 23 April–22 August 1999
Material: gelatin silver print
Description: Photographer: Larry Qualls
Repository: Collection Susie Tompkins Buell
Collection: The Image Gallery
Source: Image and original data provided by Larry Qualls

Title: Migrant Mother
Creator: Dorothea Lange
Date: 1936
Description: The Migrant Mother series from Lange’s studies of farm workers
Subject: Dorothea Lange
Collection: The Image Gallery
ID Number: LC-USF34-9097-C 6T36R05
Source: Image and original data from: Virga, Vincent, and Curators of the Library of Congress, with commentary by Alan Brinkley (2004). Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States. Charlestown, MA: Bunker Hill Publishing.
Rights: For more information about this publication, please visit the Library of Congress Shop.

Title: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Creator: Grant Wood, American, 1892–1942
Work Type: Paintings
Date: 1931
Material: Oil on Masonite
Measurements: H. 30, W. 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
Collection: The Image Gallery Formerly in The AMICO Library
ID Number: MMA_.50.117
Source: Data from The Metropolitan Museum of Art