Compare and contrast relationship advice for courtship and dating from primary source texts and images from the late 1800s to the1920s to answer  these essential questions:

  • How are modern relationship manners/etiquette the same or different when compared to the past?
  • What causes relationship manners/etiquette to change over time?
  • Do relationship manners/etiquette vary by social class? by sex? 

First, students read four primary source excerpts. I recommend using the close reading strategies described in this article “Implementing the Common Core State Standards: A Primer on ‘Close Reading of Text’” by Sheila Brown and Lee Kappes (October 2012), The Aspen Institute.

After students read, analyze, and discuss the texts, follow-up assignments can include constructing answers to the essential questions or completing one or more of the activities described below.

Download the following documents for a lesson exploring relationship etiquette in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

For more information:

Visiting and calling card rules, 1888.
Visiting and calling card rules, 1888.

For more about the history of daily life, historical primary sources, and instructional activities by Cynthia W. Resor, see:

About the header image: Fatty rides “The Whip” in 1917 movie Coney Island.