Charles Edward Russell stands as one of most influential muckrakers of all time.
Charles Edward Russell stands as one of most influential muckrakers of all time. Muckraking was a popular offshoot of journalism at the turn-of-the-century. Fervent and forceful, its goal was not only to inform, but reform.
Russell learned muckraking while working under his father at the Davenport Gazette. Later, he went on to write a number of groundbreaking exposés in Chicago and New York.
His exposé accusing Trinity Church of being one of New York’s worst slum landlords prompted a wave of firings in the church as well as the selling off of many of its landholdings.
His most famous piece, “The Greatest Trust in the World,” a 100-page muckraking tour de force about the beef trust in Chicago, inspired Upton Sinclair to write his own exposé, The Jungle.
In the later part of his life, Russell’s muckraking work transformed into social and political activism. He was one of the three founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the socialist nominee for the New York governor’s race and as a U.S. senator from New York.
Rebecca Hopman never expected to meet one of the most influential people in her life when she was a student worker in Augustana's Special Collections. But Lydia Olsson’s diaries sparked a connection across time for Hopman — and a career devoted to preserving stories like Olsson’s.
Twelve faculty members advance in their careers at the college.
Augustana's fall Symposium Day 2024 invited big ideas from any and all disciplines, welcoming presentations from students, faculty and staff, and distinguished guests — including keynote speaker Dr. Roosevelt Montás from Columbia University and Dr. Chris Hedlin '11 from the University of Notre Dame.
