Photo Credit: Works Progress Administration/ Wikimedia Commons
17. Books Delivered by Horse (1938)
A photo shows a pack horse librarian bringing books through rural Kentucky. Before easy roads, online libraries, and delivery apps, access to reading could require a person on horseback crossing rough terrain. The image is humble, but deeply moving. Education once upon a time adapted to geography, disease, poverty, and distance. Modern readers may complain about slow Wi-Fi or crowded classrooms, but such images show a time when simply getting a book or attending class could require an entire system of human effort.
Photo Credit: Edd Thomas/ Wikimedia Commons
18. The Zenith Flash-Matic Space Gun Remote (1955)
When the very first wireless television remote control was invented by Zenith engineer Eugene Polley in 1955, the design team decided to lean heavily into the burgeoning space-age aesthetic of the decade. The resulting device, named the “Flash-Matic,” looked exactly like a futuristic green ray gun.
The remote did not use radio waves or infrared light; instead, it was a highly specialized flashlight. The user would pull the trigger to shoot a visible beam of light at photo-electric cells built into the four corners of the television set to change channels or mute the sound. While the design was incredibly fun, it suffered a fatal flaw: bright sunlight entering through a living room window would completely confuse the TV, causing it to change channels completely on its own.