Time Capsule – 1950s0

For research for Postmortem,  the upcoming WNEP show, Don tasked us with creating our own time capsule for each decade.

1950s:

Elvis album “Elvis Presley” (1956)

Elvis’ debut album, released on RCA Victor in 1956. The album itself was the first rock n’ roll album to reach number 1 on the Billboard charts, and it stayed number 1 for 10 weeks.

Rosa Parks mugshot photo (1955)

Parks was not the only one to refuse to move from her seat, but her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and set the stage for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Sputnik 1 sound recording (1957)

The launch of Sputnik set off not only the space race (NASA was founded soon after in 1958), but also the Cold War itself. Not only is Sputnik the first viable man made object in space, which I imagine was terrifying in a decade filled with atomic war warnings, it also could communicate back to earth with a signal that anyone with a good ham radio could pick up on. Listen to the recording here.

Polio Vaccine (1952)

Though it wasn’t actually announced until 1955, and not available for purchase until early 1960s, the Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk has been cited as the most important invention of the 20th century.

Newspaper Clipping of the “Little Rock 9″ (1957)

The Supreme Court case Brown v. the Board of Education in 1954 barred the segregation of all schools throughout the nation. It wasn’t until 1957 (through school boards’ plans of gradual integration) that the ruling was really felt in the country, as 9 students showed up for their first day of class at Little Rock Central High School. The governor, supporting the segregationists, ordered the Arkansas National Guard to block the students from entering the school. Pres. Eisenhower soon sent federal troops from the 101st Airborne division and nationalized the Arkansas National Guard to escort the students in.

Election Ballot of Richard J. Daley for Mayor (1955)

Before the current Mayor Daley, there was the Mayor Daley, the undisputed “boss” of Chicago. First elected Mayor in 1955, he served for 21 years, and was a crucial part of Chicago’s history, both good and bad.

Instructions for a Bomb Shelter Kit

My father remembered growing up and seeing people who had actual bomb shelters on their property. I don’t know if he had one himself, but the market for bomb shelters was certainly alive and well in the 1950s. Much of the propaganda of the time from Civil Defense also fed the idea that “duck and cover” was a legitimate safety exercise in the event of nuclear holocaust.

Novel of The Manchurian Candidate (1959)

Though it’s the movie that became so famous, the story from the novel hits on all the major fears of the 1950s that make a good thriller, from the Korean War to the Red Scare to China’s “communist threat”.

Casino dice from a Rush Street casino

The Chicago mob had a lot of power in the early and mid 20th century, and the 1950s was when a lot of it spread to owning and operating casinos in Vegas. There were still plenty of vices to be found in Chicago proper, and Rush Street was a reported hotspot for underground gambling.

Novel of On the Road (1957)

Jack Kerouac’s novel has been called the defining work of the Beat Generation. It was cited as a huge influence on artists, musicians, and novelists from then to now, and the novel also exemplified the cultural shift that was just underneath the surface, and was to become more evident in the 1960s. When it was published, the New York Times wrote “its publication is a historic occasion”, while others roundly panned it.