Abstract:
Throughout the last few decades of the nineteenth century,
America experienced a cultural shift in which Shakespeare
moved from an integral part of common culture to a more
refined position in the cultural hierarchy. By researching
evidence from Muncie, Indiana during the 1890s, Shakespeare's
presence and impact on the average American city can be
examined and evaluated in comparison to previous scholarly
research on Shakespeare’s cultural upward mobility.
Shakespeare in advertisements, public lectures and studies,
social clubs, public education, and performance notices from
the local newspapers are analyzed, as are the Shakespearean
texts borrowed from the Muncie Public Library according to the
"What Middletown Read" database in order to come to a general conclusion about Shakespeare in Middletown at the turn of
the twentieth century.
