The Huntington Library offers a great collection of webcasts on California history. What a world we now live in where I can surf the web and hear leading intellectuals discuss their work on my own time.
"Democratizing the Beach: From Therapy to Recreation" in California and the West @iTunesU:
Dr. Robert Ritchie describes how "beach culture shifted from an emphasis on the therapeutic properties of sea water to the growing interests of recreational pleasures of a trip to the shore."
Dr. Ritchie offers an entertaining and useful investigation into the evolution of beach culture from the 19th century into the 20th. While the talk was founded on his wider work of beach culture from 18th century England to America and the present, it offers valuable evidence of both the evolution and the malleability of cultural hierarchies. As the title implies, the spreading of beach culture into the working classes created a very different culture of recreation and amusement compared to the more therapeutic beach culture. Rightly, Ritchie describes how both cultures came to coexist by the late 19th century, if only through different market appeals. In addition Ritchie demonstrates contributions to identity, gender, and class to the investigation of leisure culture.
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