When I was growing up, my dad had a stack of Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1950’s. These fascinated me. My favorite articles presented things like the “kitchen of the future,” which, if I recall correctly, included disposable plates that dissolved in hot water after use. Oh, how I wish I could find that picture!
If I ever do find it, I will send it straight to the blog Paleofuture: A look into the future that never was. Paleofuture, which has been going strong since 2007, has assembled a fabulous collection of past visions of the future that stretch from the 1870’s to the 1990’s. The decades with the most representation, of course, are my beloved 1950’s and 1960’s; I was delighted to stumble across the 1959 Parade article, “Will Robots Make People Obsolete?” But it’s also fascinating to go back to, say, the 1890’s. If you do, check out “Jean-Marc Côté’s Visions of the Year 2000,” fantastical illustrations with a slightly creepy edge. Paleofuture appears to be starting a print magazine as well.
On the flip side of the coin are bits of the past that stay in the past. National Public Radio has produced a lovely multimedia essay for their site called “The Jobs Of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations” that is well worth a look! While the lamplighter wins ‘most romantic photograph,’ my favorite is the very first entry: Lector, someone who read newspapers and political tracts aloud to cigar-makers while they worked. Sign me up, I say!
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