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The chaotic events of the 60's, including war and social change, seemed destined to continue in the 70's. Major trends included a growing disillusionment of government, advances in civil rights, increased influence of the women's movement, a heightened concern for the environment, and increased space exploration. Many of the "radical" ideas of the 60's gained wider acceptance in the new decade, and were mainstreamed into American life and culture. Amid war, social realignment and presidential impeachment proceedings, American culture flourished. Indeed, the events of the times were reflected in and became the inspiration for much of the music, literature, entertainment, and even fashion of the decade.

The purpose of this web and library guide is to help the user gain a broad understanding and appreciation for the culture and history of the 1970s. In a very small way, this is a bibliographic essay. While there is no way we can link to everything, we have attempted to find areas of special interest and to select information that we hold dear today - movies we watch, songs we sing, events that move us, people we admire.

To see the whole picture, we encourage users to browse all the way through this page and then visit the suggested links for more information on the decade. We feel the best way to immerse oneself in a topic is to use both Internet and the library. The real depth of information is best read in books. More photographs, more information, more depth. Then, there is information that will be found only on the Internet; a journal from someone, photographs like those on our pages. If you can add a valuable site or information to this page, we invite you to write. Thanks for the visit. ENJOY!

Seventies art reflected a slowing and refinement of some of the avant-garde trends prominent in the Sixties. Earth art, a movement that combined environmental and minimalist ideas on a large scale, was promoted by artists such as Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, Robert Smithson, James Turrel, Alice Aycock, Claes Oldenburg, and Richard Serra. Massive earthworks such as Smithson's Spiral Jetty, challenged all the rules regarding mass, time, size, and space. Land art and environmental art, variations of earth art, were also prominent. Other notable schools of art were illusionism, which sought to surprise viewers and cause them to question their interpretation of reality, and photo realism and hyperrealism, which imitated
photography, created by such artists as Richard Estes.

Pop Art was still represented by artists such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney; and George Segal continued to sculpt his white plaster, such as Three Figures on Four Benches (1979). The influence of the women's movement was represented by Lynda Benglis, Jackie Winsor, and Judy Chicago, who created the feminist art exhibition, The Dinner Party. Performance art challenged the traditional, stationary aspect of art. Andrew Wyeth began painting his Helga pictures.

In architecture, the "modern movement" retreated and there was a gradual move toward architectural humanism and a renewed respect for traditional and historical design. Increasingly architects attempted to consider the needs and feelings of the people who would use their buildings.

The historical element is evident in the pyramid form of San Francisco's Transamerica Building (William L. Pereira, 1972) and the classical Piazza d'Italia in New Orleans (Charles Moore, 1979). Houston's Pennzoil Place (Philip Johnson and John Burgee, 1976) combined modernism with humanism utilizing an eight-story atrium to connect two trapezoid-shaped towers. Architect Paolo Soleri, advocated Arcology, a new theory of architecture embodying the fusion of architecture with ecology. Modernism survived in buildings such as the Frank Gehry House in Santa Monica, California (1978), and the Dallas City Hall , designed by I.M. Pei (1978).

Other noteworthy structures of the decade include:

Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth, Louis I. Kahn (completed 1972)
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Gunnar Birkerts (1972)
Sears Tower, Chicago, Bruce Graham (1973) - later renamed Willis Tower (2009)
National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C., Gyo Obata (1976), and
I. M. Pei's East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. (1974 to 1978).

Many of the books published in the 70's revolved around a general theme of man's alienation from his spiritual roots. John Updike portrayed characters trying to find meaning in a society spiritually empty and in a state of moral decay. Joyce Carol Oates wrote of the search for spiritual meaning in the contemporary world, and Kurt Vonnegut explored the loneliness of contemporary society and the power hungry materialism that pervaded it. One of the strongest literary voices to emerge from this decade was Toni Morrison, who examined the Black American experience as never before. The poetry of Rod McKuen was immensely popular. No playwright dominated this decade of both social and artistic unrest. Among the most acknowledged were Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, David Mamet, Christopher Durang, and Neil Simon.

EDUCATION

Two trends not directly related to education nonetheless heavily impacted the nation's schools and campuses during the Seventies. Social movements, particularly the anti-war movement, were highly visible on college and university campuses. The Kent State massacre was the most devastating event, with four students gunned down by Ohio National Guardsmen attempting to stem the anti-war demonstrations. Mandatory busing to achieve racial school integration, particularly in Boston and other Northeastern cities, often led to violence and a disruption of the educational process. On a positive educational note, Congress guaranteed equal educational access to the handicapped with the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.

Mood rings, lava lamps, Rubik's cube, Sea Monkeys, smiley face stickers, string art, and pet rocks all captured the imagination of Americans during this decade. The wildest fad surely was streaking nude through very public places! Families vacationed in station wagons and everyone wanted an RV.

The fashion influence of Sixties hippies was mainstreamed in the Seventies, as men sported shoulder length hair and non-traditional clothing became the rage, including bellbottom pants, hip huggers, colorful patches, hot pants, platform shoes, earth shoes, clogs, T-shirts, and gypsy dresses. Knits and denims were the fabrics of choice. Leisure suits for men became commonplace, and women were fashionable in everything from ankle-length grandmother dresses to hot pants and micro-miniskirts. The movie Annie Hall (1977) even inspired a fashion trend with women sporting traditional men's clothing such as derby hats, tweed jackets, and neckties worn with baggy pants or skirts.

The floppy disc appeared in 1970, and the next year Intel introduced the microprocessor, the "computer on a chip." Apollo 17, the last manned craft to the moon, brought back 250 samples of rock and soil. Unmanned space probes explored the moon, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Venus. The U.S. Apollo 18 and the USSR's Soyuz 19 linked up in space to conduct joint experiments. Atari produced the first low-priced integrated circuit TV games, and the videocassette recorder (VCR) changed home entertainment forever. Jumbo jets revolutionized commercial flight, doubling passenger capacity and increasing flight range to 6,000 miles. The neutron bomb, which destroys living beings but leaves buildings intact, was developed. In medicine, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology was developed to help in diagnosis. The discovery of recombinant DNA technology in 1973 led to research in genetic engineering. This was soon halted pending development of safer techniques. The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born, developed from an artificially inseminated egg implanted in the mother's womb. Other noteworthy developments of the 1970s included these inventions or innovations: email (1971), first retail barcode scanned (1974), the laser printer (1971), and the first space lab (USA Skylab, 1973). Additionally, the electronic book was invented in 1971, eventually resulting in Project Gutenberg, the largest collection of online books.

During the 1970's the United States underwent some profound changes. First a Vice President and then a President resigned under threat of impeachment. The Vietnam War continued to divide the country even after the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973 put an end to U.S. military participation in the war. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. Crime increased despite Nixon's pledge to make law and order a top priority of his presidency. Increased immigration followed passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, which reformed an earlier policy that favored western Europeans. People from Third World countries came to this country in search of economic betterment or to escape political repression. Women, minorities, and gays increasingly demanded full legal equality and privileges in society. Women expanded their involvement in politics. The proportion of women in state legislatures tripled. Women surpassed men in college enrollment in 1979. However, the rising divorce rate left an increasing number of women as sole breadwinners and forced more and more of them into poverty. African-Americans also made their presence felt as the number of black members in Congress increased, and cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, and Atlanta elected their first African-American mayors. Affirmative action became a controversial policy as minorities and women asserted their rights to jobs and quality education. Native Americans began to demand attention to their plight. In 1975 the Indian Self-Determination Act encouraged Indians to take control of their own education and promote their tribal customs.
Presidents: Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974), Gerald Ford (1974-1977), and Jimmy Carter (1977-1981).
Houston's U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan gained national prominence with her eloquence during the Watergate investigation and hearings which resulted in impeachment proceedings against Nixon.