It’s September and students across the country are now well-settled in their new classrooms, many filled with laptops and high tech, interactive white boards. What would you expect to find in an 1874 schoolroom? This trade catalog from that year shows typical furniture but also illustrates a few more things, like teaching aids. Though a little lower tech than today’s models, some are still quite innovative.
Tag: trade literature
This post was written by Tracee Haupt, an intern at the National Museum of American History Library. Tracee is a graduate student in the University of Maryland’s dual-degree master’s program for History and Library Science.
At six and a half feet tall and three hundred and fifty pounds, Willie Vocalite was an imposing figure. “The Man Who Isn’t a Man,” as a 1934 booklet uncovered in our Trade Literature Collection described him, was barrel-chested with gleaming red eyes and a friendly expression. He was often pictured with a cigarette hanging jauntily from his lips, and later in his career he adopted a fashionable mustache that gave him the cavalier look of a 1930s movie star. Willie was a star of sorts–beginning in 1931, his act toured America from coast to coast drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators eager to see the “world famous robot” who could move, talk, and respond to voice commands.
This post was written by Katie Martin, Summer 2016 Art Deco Trade Literature Research intern at the National Museum of American History Library.
For six weeks in June and July, my task was to research and identify materials from the trade literature and world’s fair collections housed at the National Museum of American History Library that showcase the Art Deco period in Chicago.
This post was written by Adrian Vaagenes, volunteer in the National Museum of American History library. In the last five years, the Go-Pro, the durable HD camera of daredevils the more »
This post was written by Adrian Vaagenes, intern in the National Museum of American History Library.
The 4th of July is upon us, and for many of us this means, to borrow a quote from The Simpsons, it’s “time to celebrate the independence of our nation by blowing up a small part of it”. Just as we enjoy lighting roman candles, sparklers, cherry bombs, and m-80’s, these pieces of trade literature in our collection show that our forefathers and foremothers of yesteryear were just as delighted by pyromancy and destruction.
There are only a few days left in National Bike Month but we couldn’t let May pass without sharing a few of the fabulous bicycle-related resources available from the Smithsonian Libraries. National Bike Month, established in 1956, is sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists. It promotes the benefits of bicycling and encourages more folks across the country to give it a try.