Published: New York, 1944 Powered flight stands as one of humanity’s greatest technological triumphs: the achievement of a dream that had haunted the sleep, but eluded the grasp, of millions of our forebears from time immemorial. For some, however, once the technology was perfected, it simply represented a new marketing opportunity. In 1944, Shell Oil Company published a promotional volume advocating an airport in every community. Visionary in its concept, and a bit utopian in its vision, Shell suggested that carefree motorists, in cars fueled by Shell, would drive to the neighborhood airstrip and board their own private planes. “In […]

Published: Chicago, 1943 Like our entry for 1942, the title of our 1943 entry begins with the word “victory.” But this is victory of a different and more easily-achievable sort.  Instead of triumphing through the use of air power and military might, James H. Burdett’s Victory Garden Manual encourages readers to “be patriotic and plant a Victory Garden!” In 1920, Burdett had founded the non-profit National Garden Bureau. He was working as an advertising manager for a seed company when he introduced the idea of a central communications office to represent the seed and garden industry. The NGB still exists […]

Published: New York, 1942 This book is blatant propaganda, but the market was no  doubt ripe for such literature just after the United States entered World War II.  Indeed, Victory Through Air Power was the #1 New York Times bestseller for a month straight and would even go on to become an animated Disney film. Make no mistake, this book was designed to shape public opinion. In an attempt at due diligence, the publishers issue an alert: Warning to laymen: in reading this remarkable book about the air, keep your feet on the ground! Only with such a cautionary word […]

Published: Chicago, 1941 When we think about third parties in US politics, the organizations that most often spring to mind are the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, or perhaps the Constitution Party. Fewer of us are aware of the Prohibition Party, even though, having been founded in 1869, it remains the third-oldest active political party in America. It was as a Prohibition Party candidate that one of MIT’s noteworthy alumni ran for President of the United States. Roger W. Babson (1875-1967) graduated from MIT in 1898. He found success with his Babson Statistical Organization, a firm that collected and analyzed […]

Published: New York, 1940 In 1940, the United States had not yet entered World War II. The year prior had seen the German invasion of Poland, and war declared on Germany by the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Australia. On September 5, 1939, the United States announced its neutrality in the war. Some were surprised, then, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act into law on September 27, 1940. This was the first time a draft had been instituted in the U.S. during peacetime.  The Act required that all American males age 21 to […]

Published: New York, 1939 Stephen Daye, a British locksmith, came to what is now Massachusetts in 1638 with the Rev. Jose Glover.  Glover intended to become the colony’s first printer, but he died en route, leaving Daye to set up shop in present-day Harvard Square. The Bay Psalm Book, printed by Daye in 1640, remains the oldest extant book printed in what is now the United States. Its rarity is legend: only 11 copies survive. Still, the Bay Psalm Book was not the first item to come off Daye’s press. That distinction belongs to The Oath of a Free-Man, a […]

Published: New York, 1938 The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, like all such wars, brought loss, injury, brutal hardship, and often death to the country’s civilian population. External forces played an outsized role during the course of the war, with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy aiding the rebel Nationalists, while the Republicans received support from the Soviet Union and from brigades made up of volunteers from the U.S. and Europe. The politics of the war were fiendishly complex – the Republican side, especially, experienced conflict within its own ranks, which included factions within factions. Eventually the Nationalists were victorious, and […]

Published: Boston, 1937 The Federal Writers’ Project was a New Deal work relief program of the Works Progress Administration. From 1935 to 1939, the project employed around 5,000 people a year (a fraction of those enrolled in WPA programs overall), as writers, editors, and information-gatherers. The purpose of the Writers’ Project was to create a state-by-state “American Guide Series” of publications, in order to present a collective vision of America that drew on the richness and diversity of the people, history, and culture to be found in each state. (It was sort of like writing about 150 different books, to […]

Published: Shanghai, 1936 It seems like you can’t turn on the TV or open a newspaper without hearing another report or reading another editorial about the rise of China. The country’s increasingly prominent position on the world political stage and its economy’s dazzling growth have convinced many observers that China is on track to becoming the world’s next superpower. MIT has certainly taken notice, and the Institute’s Greater China Global Initiative outlines curriculum changes, increased collaboration, and other proposed actions in recognition of this development. In the realms of science and technology, it has long been clear that China produces […]

Published: New York, 1935 In 1901, 27-year-old William H. Ukers worked as an editor for The Spice Mill, the in-house magazine of the Jabez Burns coffee company.  Taking note of a growing trend, he suggested to his boss that the magazine expand to become a trade journal.  The boss dismissed the idea, Ukers summarily quit, and the rest is coffee and tea history – literally. As legend has it, Ukers started The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal that very day.  He would devote his entire career to the journal and its publishing imprint, which fused up-to-date reportage with historical and […]