Bibliography
Primary Sources
Begley, Sarah. "Sesame Street's Gordon Looks Back on 45 Years of Impact." Time.com. Time, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
on television. Gordon explains why he feels the show has remained so popular and so
important. The article has excellent comments on the legacy of the show from one of its
original cast members.
Clash, Kevin, and Gary Brozek. My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me about Life, Love, and Laughing out Loud. New York: Broadway, 2006. Print. Most of this book is about what Kevin Clash has learned from his career as Elmo. Although
that was really interesting and funny, the parts that are most helpful to my project are the way
he talks about the impact Elmo and Sesame Street have on children. He describes how Elmo
was created to help kids see the role of a younger sibling in a family setting and how they need
to feel important even though they are little. This book gives me a much better understanding
of how detailed the creators are when they think about the impact the show will have on kids.
Gould, Jack. "This 'Sesame' May Open the Right Doors." New York Times 23 Nov. 1969: D21. Print. This article appeared in the New York Times just before Sesame Street first aired. It has great
information about the early expectations for the show and why it showed great leadership in
the television industry. It is helpful to me as I lay out the main event section of my project.
Hellman, Peter. "Street Smart: How Big Bird & Co. Do It." New York Magazine 23 Nov. 1987: 48-53. This magazine article discusses the current issues facing Sesame Street as well as some of its
goals and challenges when it first aired. It provides a unique perspective of the difficulties of
creating an educational show for children. I included it as a primary source because it uses first-hand information about the current legacy from people who have always worked with
the show. I will use this information as I put together my sections on long term importance to
history and conclusions.
"Loretta Long on the Diversity of Sesame Street." Interview by Loretta Long and Karen Herman.
Archive of American Television. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 21 July 2004. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
Street since it first aired. She talks about how the cast was very different than most TV shows
of that time because they purposely had members that represented a variety of cultural groups.
This helps me to better understand the impact that the show would have had on children and
how important it was a leader in more parts of education than just learning letters and
numbers.
Nixon, Richard M. Letter to Joan Ganz Cooney. 28 Jan. 1970. MS. Children's Television Workshop,
New York City, New York.
Pres. Richard Nixon wrote this letter to the creator of Sesame Street to show his support for
this new educational program. It helps me to understand just how important this show was at
the time and the impact that it had immediately on our nation.
Secondary Sources
Brooke, Jill. "'Sesame Street Takes a Bow to 30 Animated Years'" CNN.com Entertainment. CNN, 13 Nov. 1998. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
years of being on television. I was able to pull a couple quotes that help me show its
continuing importance to history.
Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. New York: Viking, 2008. Print. This amazing book includes just about anything you ever wanted to know about Sesame
Street: how it got started, who came up with the idea and why, how it changed over the years,
etc. It really helped fill in some gaps that I had for placing Sesame Street in historical context,
but I will also use information from it in all of the other sections of my project.
Fisch, Shalom M., and Rosemarie T. Truglio. "G" Is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2001. Print. Research and data are sometimes hard to read, but this book explained all of the research that
has been done on Sesame Street in a way that was easy to understand. All of this research
shows how important Sesame Street is to the education of children before they get to
kindergarten, especially for kids from low-income families. This information is really helpful
to me as I put together the importance of Sesame Street to history.
Fleischman, Barbarra G. ""Somebody Come and Play:" 45 Years of Sesame Street Helping Kids
Grow
Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder." Welcome to The New York Public Library. New York Public Library, 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
been to kids. They are devoting a whole exhibit and special events to celebrate its effect on
kids. There is a really great quote from the head librarian that I plan to use in my long term
impact section.