Published: London, 1924 MIT’s copy of this illustrated book on Stonehenge is something special. It belonged to Harold “Doc” Edgerton (1903-1990), the MIT Institute Professor who perfected the electronic stroboscope. Edgerton has pasted many of his own photographs of Stonehenge into his copy, turning it into a volume that’s been “extra-illustrated” by a notable figure in the history of photography. On the book’s front endpapers, Edgerton noted where and when he acquired it; his inscription reads,“Harold E. Edgerton, Aug. 1944. Purchased in Oxford, Eng.” Below that, in pencil and alongside a close-up of two uniformed men at Stonehenge, is written, […]

Published: New York, 1923 While it’s best known for science (and for its scientists), MIT also boasts an impressive array of musical talent. Nearly half of MIT’s undergraduates participate in the Music Program, and there are dozens of active music-performance groups on campus. Of course not everyone plays music, but nearly everyone can appreciate it. Today’s featured item, How to Listen to Music, provides instruction for the non-musician in how to listen more effectively, and therefore, at least in theory, with more enjoyment. Henry Krehbiel (1854-1923) was a notable music critic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though […]

Published: New York, 1922 This elaborately titled volume was published by the Champion Coated Paper Company to showcase and market its various paper lines. Today, the book serves as a valuable reference work covering the paper types and printing processes of the early 20th century. Coated paper, as the name implies, is coated on one or both sides with a mixture of binder and pigment; the resulting paper provides an excellent base for printing. The coating, when burnished, creates an enamel-like surface, which explains several of the company’s fanciful product names for their enamel papers: Aigrette, Wedgewood, Velvett and Hingefold […]

Published: London, 1921 During the Industrial Revolution, the physical well-being of workers was of little concern to the typical employer. Small children were regularly shoved up chimneys, and were also expected to pick out broken threads from massive machines that were still running. In the 1910s and 20s, female workers at the United States Radium Corporation ingested radioactive materials as they licked the tips of their radium-laden brushes in an effort to paint glow-in-the-dark numbers precisely as their employers demanded. Eventually, though, the health of workers would come to be seen as a worthy consideration for industry. Edgar Collis and […]

Published: New York, 1920 Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle series was a consistent best-seller from the time of its initial publication through the mid-20th century. In the rankings of children’s literature, its popularity was for many years topped only by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Though its iconic status had solidified, Doctor Dolittle faded slowly from the cultural radar, enough so that today most people have little knowledge of the original story. (The Eddie Murphy film version from a decade ago has little in common with the book.) For those unfamiliar with the book, here’s a quick primer (sorry, spoiler alert): English […]

Published: Boston, ca. 1919 Robert P. Bellows and Ralph W. Gray, the architects behind this grand proposal, submitted their plans to the Metropolitan Improvements Commission of Massachusetts in 1911. While their modifications no doubt addressed the structural concerns with the existing bridge, the proposal really sings in its aesthetic aspirations (not least of which lies in a war memorial included in the design). To replace the existing structure of iron and steel, Bellows and Gray envisioned “a permanent and handsome structure of stone and concrete” – something reminiscent, perhaps, of the Old World. In these plans, they point to bridges […]

Published: Cambridge, 1918 We’ve all seen yearbooks, and we know what to expect from them. They follow a formula that doesn’t vary much from year to year: there’s usually a dedication, then a list of faculty; formal portraits of the senior class; maybe some candid shots; humorous bits about tough professors or difficult courses; sections on clubs, activities, and athletics. It’s boilerplate, and it can seem as though the only thing that actually changes from year to year is the photos. And sure enough, the MIT yearbook published in 1918 (by and for the class of 1919) covers the usual […]

Published: London, 1917 The tank. The U-boat. The fighter plane. The machine gun. The flamethrower. Poison gas.  These military technologies were all developed or enhanced during World War I, the first time science, technology, and mass production played a critical role in the course of a war. These technologies also played a critical role in the war’s unprecedented carnage. Defined by destructiveness, scale, and technical innovation, World War I is seen as a watershed, the advent of the modern age. With our knowledge of the part “war inventions” played in the First World War’s horrors, today it seems a bit […]

Published: New York and London, 1916 Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was among America’s foremost novelists during the first third of the 20th century, and several of her books continue to be both widely read and highly esteemed. Among them are The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, Ethan Frome, and The Age of Innocence (for which she won the Pulitzer Prize). Wharton spent the last three decades of her life in France. During World War I, horrified by the devastation being visited on civilian populations, she worked tirelessly on behalf of orphans and refugees. She visited the front lines, […]

Published: New York and London, 1915 These days we recognize advertising as big business: thirty-second Superbowl spots sell for eye-popping amounts each year. And it’s hard to deny that advertising is effective: just glimpsing the logo of a favorite junk food brand can create a hankering that’s positively Pavlovian. There’s a science behind successful advertisements, which the author of today’s book, Earnest Elmo Calkins (1868-1964), attempts to explain. As he states in the foreword, it is through “scientific management, the painstaking collection of statistics and their intelligent arrangement, and the exercise of … common-sense” that we reduce the “element of […]