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Misc. Futurism

22) TransGlide / GolfGlide

Sales Brochure for a mid 1970s people mover system for golf courses as part of a larger push for people movers in home and commercial settings.  This company did not get far.

Transglide cover.tiff

21) World Of Tomorrow Cards

Complete set of 50 cards depicting The World Of Tomorrow from the 1930s made by Stephen Mitchell & Sons, a Scottish tobacco company and sold with cigarette packs.

World Of Tomorrow Cards 1 Front.png

20) Newspaper Photographs

A collection of original file photographs from various newspapers around the country depicting futuristic endeavors.

GE Rapid Transit Front.jpg

19) Phantom Corsair

Brochure for a 1938 concept car

Phantom Corsair cover.jpg

18) Quasar Robots

Sales / promotional kit for a 1970s company that offered "robots" for promotional events, and they claimed for actual use in the future. But it was all a hoax.  

Quasar Robots cover.jpg

17) Concepts

Hardcover book published by United States Steel with futuristic art by Syd Mead.  This is one of five USS publications from the 1960s featuring Mead's art.

Syd Mead Concepts cover.jpg

16) Innovations

Hardcover book published by United States Steel with futuristic art by Syd Mead.  This is one of five USS publications from the 1960s featuring Mead's art.

Syd Mead Innovations cover.jpg

15) American Weekly 1/22/56

A special edition of this Sunday newspaper supplement focusing on a very optimistic, "push-button", look at the future.  Cover art by Fred McNabb

Am Weekly Future cover.jpg

14) Valentine Mono-Rail Brochure

An early 20th century sales brochure for a new monorail system framed as a history of transportation.

Nat Rapid Transit Co cover.jpg

13) Atlantic Suspended Monorail System Presentation

This booklet contains speeches and presentations given on 12/13/1930 at the Saturday Science Luncheon of The American Institute Of The City of New York at the Hotel Astor.  The speeches advocate for a suspended monorail system for Queens.

Suspended Monorail Luncheon Cover.jpg

12) 1920s Monorail company business archive.

A 400-page archive of letters, patents, blueprints, photographs and other materials regarding a failed attempt by an English businessman to create a "Mono-railway" across the U.S.

00001JCM Monorail.jpg

11) Gas Pamphlet - World of Tomorrow

16-page sales pamphlet published in 1944 by Roper Stoves imagining life in the "not-too-distant tomorrow".

Gas Peek World Of Tomorrow cover.jpg

10) Projections

Hardcover book published by United States Steel with futuristic art by Syd Mead.  This is one of five USS publications from the 1960s featuring Mead's art.

Projections Syd Mead cover.jpg

9) Train of Tomorrow

1949, 108-page press packet for the Astra Dome train designed by GM and manufactured by Pullman; a protoype for domeliners.

00001Train of Tomorrow.jpg

8) Domeliner Brochure

1958 brochure for Union Pacific's Domeliner train "City of Los Angeles" with great mid-century modern futurism images with a futuristic slant. This train was featured on an episode of I Love Lucy.

Domeliner Cover.jpg

7) The Gyron

1961 brochure for Ford concept car of the future

The Gyron cover.jpg

6) "Charters In Space"

Circa late 1960s, imaginative look at what commercial travel to the Moon could be in the future published by Trans International Airlines, a charter airline owned by Kirk Kerkorian. 

IMG_2023_06_24_22_58_57_961.jpg

5) "Catalog Of Things To Come"

This elaborate brochure circa 1945 features an optimistic and futuristic look at life in America across multiple aspects as WWII was ending.  It was produced by Boston printer John Carter & Co. which was trying to generate more revenue by encouraging firms to use Carter to print brochures to help sell their goods in post-war America. Many of the themes and topics here can be seen in the early days of Disneyland, WDW and EPCOT.

IMG_2023_06_24_12_50_17_303.jpg

4) Alweg LA Monorail Proposal

A 1961 proposal from Alweg, the manufacturer of the Disneyland monorail system, for a Los Angeles line.

LAMonorailAlweg_o1tlnnr4Is1v6lgpuo1_1280

3) Los Angeles Monorail Proposal

1954, 200+ page report commissioned by the LA MTA for a city-wide monorail system.

LA Monorail - 1.jpg

2) 1967 California World's Fair

50 page archive of documents and newsletters related to the never-built 1967 World's Fair in Long Beach, California.   According to documents in the archive the fair was supposed to run 4/3-10/30 in both 1967 and 1968 with anywhere from 40-50 million people attending and cost $400M. 

1967 Cal Fair cover.jpg

1) Freedomland Guide/Map

1962 guide to Freedomanland which was an East Coast Disney-type theme park located in the Bronx that ran from 1960-1964 

Freedomland cover.jpg
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