The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

Restraining The Terror In Georgia (The Literary Digest, 1921)

Whether Georgia Governor Hugh M. Dorsey (1871 – 1948) was overwhelmed by a sense of humanity or whether he simply wished to reduce the northern flow of African-Americans from his state in the Great Migration – we’ll never know, but the fact stands that in late April, 1921, the Governor stood before the State Committe on Race Relations and spoke of 135 instances in which Black citizens were unjustly treated by White Georgians (The Georgia Government document pertaining to his address can be read here).

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The Iconic ”I Want You” Poster Is Seen for the First Time (Literary Digest, 1917)

In April, 1917, the call went out to artists of all ages that their talents were badly needed to create new and different sorts of posters that would rally the American masses to the colors. One of the first to answer the call was the celebrated illustrator James Montgomery Flagg; his first effort was the memorable I Want You poster, immediately raised the standards which other artists would have to acknowledge. It was reported that George Creel, the President’s appointee for all matters involving such undertakings in the mass-media, hosted a dinner for American illustrators; the evening ended with much clapping and cheering and the next day, one can assume, the poster campaign began in earnest.

Click here to read about W.W. I art.

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Albert Einstein Magazine Interview (Literary Digest, 1935)

A year and a half after departing Germany, Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) vogued it up for the cameras at a meeting for the scientific community in Pennsylvania where he answered three very basic questions concerning his research.

A small, sensitive, and slightly naive refugee from Germany stole the show at the winter meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science, which closed at Pittsburgh last week. Not only the general public and newspapermen, but even the staid scientists forgot their dignity in a scramble to see and hear the little man, Albert Einstein, whose ideas have worked the greatest revolution in modern scientific thought.

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Albert Einstein Magazine Interview (Literary Digest, 1935)

A year and a half after departing Germany, Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) vogued it up for the cameras at a meeting for the scientific community in Pennsylvania where he answered three very basic questions concerning his research.

A small, sensitive, and slightly naive refugee from Germany stole the show at the winter meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science, which closed at Pittsburgh last week. Not only the general public and newspapermen, but even the staid scientists forgot their dignity in a scramble to see and hear the little man, Albert Einstein, whose ideas have worked the greatest revolution in modern scientific thought.

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When Grant was a Colonel (Literary Digest, 1908)

This Civil War reminiscence was originally printed in a Missouri newspaper and concerned the Union General U.S. Grant (1822 – 1885) when he was a lowly colonel assigned to guard the railroads along the Salt River in Northeast Missouri and how he got along with the local population:


He talked politely in a calm, dispassionate way, and never with heat or anger. Some of those who visited his camp in those days quote him as saying that if he had considered the war merely to free slaves he would have taken his command and joined the South…


Click here to read about
General Grant’s march on Richmond.


Click here to read about the son of General Grant and his memories of his father at Vicksburg.

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