Misc. Futurism

19) Phantom Corsair

Brochure for a 1938 concept car

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.  

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.

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.

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

14) Valentine Mono-Rail Brochure

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

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.

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.

11) Gas Pamphlet - World of Tomorrow

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

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.

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.

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.

7) The Gyron

1961 brochure for Ford concept car of the future

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. 

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.

4) Alweg LA Monorail Proposal

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

3) Los Angeles Monorail Proposal

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

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. 

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