19201999

19201999 is a compact chronological designation used in historical writing, archival cataloging, and data sets to denote the period from January 1, 1920, to December 31, 1999. It is not an official era but a convenient label that groups events, artifacts, and trends within the late 20th century.

In scholarly use, the span encompasses multiple distinct decades and transitions, including the interwar period, World War II, the postwar era, the Cold War, and the late 20th century modernization. It covers the rise and spread of industrialization, suburbanization, mass media, aviation, computing, and the early stages of the information age. Cultural movements such as modernism and postmodernism, as well as shifting political ideologies and decolonization, fall within the range.

In archival practice, 19201999 is often used to classify collections, datasets, or retrospective studies whose materials originate within those years. It provides a uniform frame for comparative analysis across regions and disciplines, while allowing researchers to aggregate long-term changes.

Limitations of the designation include its coarse granularity and the potential to obscure subperiod differences, regional variations, and rapid changes that occur within the window. Researchers may break the span into narrower intervals (for example, the 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, and 1990s) to capture specific dynamics. The term remains a practical shorthand rather than a monument of a single, unified era.