Guess the year #1
These clues all come from a single year of everyday American life. See if you can name it.
A new machine called Mr. Coffee arrived in kitchens, the first automatic drip coffeemaker made for the home.
The first home video game console cost $99, and families laid plastic overlays on the TV screen to play.
In December, astronauts flew the last Apollo landing mission to the Moon and splashed down safely before Christmas.
Mailing a first-class letter cost eight cents.
With Veterans Day coming next week, a warm thank-you to everyone who served, and to the families who waited for them at home.
Which year do you think it was?
Show the answer
Answer: 1972. That year Mr. Coffee came to market and the first home video game console reached living rooms. In December the last Apollo crew landed on the Moon, and through all of it a stamp cost eight cents.
Sources:
- https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/artifact/438328
- https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094422/magnavox-odyssey-video-games-console
- https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-17/
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
Guess the year #2
Here's a year from everyday American life, and a few of these clues might take you right back to your family's living room carpet. With Veterans Day coming up, a quiet thank-you to everyone who served, and to the families who wrote them all those letters.
Mailing a letter to Grandma took just an eight-cent stamp.
America's first space station rode the very last Saturn V rocket into orbit in May.
Kids sang along to brand-new Schoolhouse Rock cartoons that turned math lessons into catchy weekend-morning songs.
So what year do you think this was?
Show the answer
Answer: 1973. Skylab, America's first space station, went up on the last Saturn V that May, and the first Schoolhouse Rock shorts aired that January. The eight-cent stamp, which cost that much from 1971 until early 1974, fits right in.
Sources:
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
- https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-the-launch-of-skylab-americas-first-space-station/
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/schoolhouse-rock
Guess the year #3
Here are four clues from one year of everyday American life, and they all point to the same year.
Checkout lanes saw their first scanned barcode this year, and the honor went to a humble pack of Juicy Fruit gum in a small Ohio town.
A new national speed limit of 55 miles per hour arrived, so road trips got a little longer and station wagons got a little calmer.
Happy Days premiered on ABC, giving families a weeknight trip back to the jukebox and the soda fountain.
A first-class stamp went up to a whole dime in the spring, which made thank-you notes feel like a real investment.
With Veterans Day coming up this week, a warm thank-you to everyone who served. So, which year is it?
Show the answer
Answer: 1974. The giveaways are the Juicy Fruit gum that became the first barcode scanned at a supermarket checkout, in Troy, Ohio, and the January premiere of Happy Days. The new 55 mph speed limit and the 10-cent stamp from March 2 confirm it.
Sources:
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-26/barcode-scanner-invention-first-use
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/january-2/nixon-signs-national-speed-limit-into-law
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days
- https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/domestic-letter-rates-since-1863.pdf
Guess the year #4
These four clues all come from the same year of everyday American life.
A new late-night comedy show premiered on NBC on October 11, first billed as "NBC's Saturday Night."
New cars of the model year were required to carry catalytic converters, which pushed lead out of gasoline.
The Pet Rock came in a cardboard box made to look like a pet carrier, on wood shavings with a training manual.
A first-class letter needed a ten-cent stamp until the price went up on the last day of December.
With Veterans Day coming up next week, a warm thank-you to everyone who served.
Which year do you think it is?
Show the answer
Answer: 1975. NBC's new Saturday-night comedy show premiered on October 11, 1975, the Pet Rock sold more than a million by that Christmas, and 1975 was the first model year in which catalytic converters were required on new cars.
Sources:
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/saturday-night-live-debuts
- https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/clean-machine/
- https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/rock-on-gary-dahl
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
Guess the year #5
This was a year of fresh starts, both big and small, and here are three clues to it.
The two-dollar bill came back into circulation in the spring after a ten-year absence, a welcome second chance for a forgotten note.
A NASA lander touched down on Mars and sent home the first photo ever taken from the surface of the Red Planet.
Mailing a first-class letter cost thirteen cents for every single month of the year.
With Veterans Day coming up next week, a warm thank-you to everyone who served. Which year do you think this was?
Show the answer
Answer: 1976. The two-dollar bill returned to circulation that April, and a NASA Viking lander sent back the first photo from the surface of Mars that July. The thirteen-cent stamp lasted from the last day of the year before into the spring two years later, so it fits 1976 as well.
Sources:
- https://www.richmondfed.org/-/media/RichmondFedOrg/publications/research/economic_review/1976/pdf/er620203.pdf
- https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/our-first-view-of-the-surface-of-mars
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_postage_rates
