New Century

1900
Wizard of OZ

1910
Early autos
Vacuum cleaners
Kodak Brownie camera
Edison phonograph
Stage shows
Household items


	The Book When the year 1900 finally arrives, a modest little illustrated book captures the imagination of the new century, and is quickly transformed into a musical extravaganza at the Chicago Grand Opera House. It will go on to become a national treasure, when adapted to the screen 40 years later, as America's first Technicolor blockbuster.



	Ford's Model T The tornado which features so prominently in the Wizard of OZ is an apt metaphor for the transformative effect of the arrival of the first gasoline-powered autos. Henry Ford's Model T isn't the first, but it quickly takes the field by storm, based on its ultra-low sticker price, which is less than half that of most competitors. Soon, black Model T Fords are everywhere, including out on the farm.


	Widening Ad landscape Autos change everything, speeding up life and altering America forever. With an auto, you can drive up to the lake to 'hunt' moose with your new Kodak. You can zoom around town with the top down, although few women actually drive the early autos, as shown above. The gasoline engine, which has finally become practical, also powers the amazingly flimsy aircraft pioneered by the Wright Brothers, inspiring a new romance with taking to the air.


	Flood of Innovation Electric lighting has only just become available when autos arrive, followed seemingly overnight by electrically powered appliances, like vacuum cleaners. Phonographs are still cranked by hand, but electric motors are already powerful enough to propel street cars, and will soon be adapted to power washing machines, fans, and other miraculous new home appliances. Note that the vacuum cleaner (top left) is still offered in a hand-operated version (see the boy operating a long lever, to create the vacuum).


	Live Theater Movies are still a novelty, but ambitious stage productions with elaborate sets now have brilliant electric lighting to heighten the dramatic effect. Posters attract the audience.


	Home Exercise and City Gas Among the new marvels of the age are a host of less dramatic advancements, like home exercise equipment. Cook stoves aren't yet electric, but the new models powered by gas are a big step up from clunky cast-iron coal-burners. Meanwhile, the whalebone stiffeners in corsets are about to be replaced by spring steel.