A double-page spread of a booklet with a band of text along the top, below which are black and white industrial photographs of a diorama of a futuristic city viewed from an expansive, aerial perspective. The photographs appear grey-scale with sepia undertones. The fictional landscape in the photograph on the left is centered on a park with a wide, meandering river running through it, viewed diagonally, growing smaller from the bottom left corner upwards. Above the park, in the far distance, the topography of a city is seen in a cluster of skyscrapers and other buildings. Thoroughfares, bridges, and street lanes are visible but not rendered in fine detail. The right photograph appears to be the cityscape found in the background of the left photograph, but rendered in more detail. It illustrates a number of skyscrapers interspersed with low-rise built structures, surrounding a geometric, rectangular park, perhaps Central Park. On either side of the skyscrapers the land appears largely flat, but built on, perhaps with residential housing, interspersed with a few areas of foliage and idle land. The text above the left photograph states [“Through an ingenious system of traffic flow and direction from the various converging roadways, and by means of the ascending and descending ramps, a four-tier approach to the great bridge is formed. There is no interference or cutting in of traffic lanes. Cars may be driven on and off the bridge without risk of collision and with speeds maintained. / “And directly ahead we again see the river city with its four-tier bridge approach. But now we near the great metropolis of 1960. We will bank high over the city for a spectacular view of its many wonders. / “In 1940 this American city actually existed. Its population then was approximately a million per-sons. Today--in 1960--it is much larger, divided]. It continues on the right page [into three units, residential, commercial and industrial. Nine miles out from the city is a vast airport. /'Here is an American city replanned around a highly developed modern traffic system and, even though this is 1960, the system as yet is not complete. Whenever possible the rights of way of these express city thoroughfares have been so routed as to displace outmoded business sections and undesirable slum areas. / “The city of 1960 has abundant sunshine, fresh air, fine green parkways, recreational and civic centers -- all the result of thoughtful planning and design. There are approximately 38,000,000 motorcars in this America of 1960 -- almost a third more than in]. The text is surrounded by a red lined border above and below it on both pages.

See more objects with the tag future, mobility, World's Fair, fiction, ephemera.

Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
1939	Work on this object began.
2018	We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Book, Futurama, 1939

This is a Book. It was designed by Norman Bel Geddes and made for (as the client) General Motors.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility.

It is dated 1939. Its medium is offset lithograph on paper. It is a part of the department.

Since the dominance of streets by cars at the beginning of the 20th century, American designers have persistently envisioned a future of better-designed cities navigated by futuristic vehicles.

The Futurama exhibit was one of the most popular pavilions in the 1939 World’s Fair. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, the huge diorama presented a section of the U.S. revitalized with improved and expanded highways. The miniature streets, towns, homes, and vehicles imagined a future designed for a continually improving automobile that would be increasingly important to daily life.

It is credited Smithsonian Libraries, T785 K1G32 1939.