Companies of the early 20th century would often include collectible cards with their foodstuffs and tobacco smokes. The New York Public Library has an extensive collection of these cigarette cards available for viewing online, including many from a series by Max Cigarettes called This Age of Power and Wonder. This series from 1935-38 includes predictions of robot servants, spaceships, live television from exotic locations, and ubiquitous airports atop city high rises. Somewhat ironically for a cigarette manufacturer, card number six in this series of 250 predicted great advances in the treatment of cancer.
Wells Forecasts Space-Ships
Television of the Future
Our Future Servants?
How London May Be Lighted
The Amphibian At Work
Atomic Fuel
Aerodrome of the Future
War on Cancer
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- City of the Future Postcards (1910s)
- Atomic Power Plant of the Future (1930s)
- Televox Entertains High School Students (1930)
- Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
- Rastus Robot, the Mechanical Negro (1931)
- French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
- French Flying Machines (1890-1900)
- Gadgets for the Home (1930s)
- Medical Predictions for 1999 (1955)
- Bloodless Surgery, Closer Than We Think! (1959)
- How Experts Think We'll Live in 2000 A.D. (1950)