I assume civics is still a part of the U.S. grade school and high school curriculum, though I hear it’s not much emphasized. When I was in school in the 1960s and 1970s, we learned quite a bit about the founding of our country, its early leaders, and the responsibilities of being a citizen.
Today’s images are all covers from a series of popular booklets published by the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company starting in 1920. Agents gave these booklets to customers and the company sent them to schools, libraries, and other outlets. Click on any image for a larger version.
There were all sorts of outlets for civics education. I remember our local dairy had milk-bottle tops commemorating historic American events, and at Shell gas stations you could collect commemorative coins highlighting all the presidents. Patriotism was woven into corporate messaging and corporate values.
This was before the widespread merchandising tie-ins we have today. Whereas cups from fast-food restaurants once had educational messages, now we drink from movie promotions.
Insurance companies were particularly well known for their patriotic messages and educational material. I remember packets arriving at our house with reproductions of famous American documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Every household received at least one set of such material, often printed on parchment-style paper.
Even local businesses got in on the act and passed out pamphlets and booklets describing how laws are made or highlighting battles of the Civil War. There was a community effort to make sure kids grew up to be informed citizens.
I don’t know where young people learn about such things now, when patriotism isn’t prominent in most corporate cultures. Can you imagine any company today giving out a booklet of patriotic songs? That may be for the better, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside altogether.
I miss the days when pride in our country was a community effort, regardless of your particular political views. Today things seem so divisive.
Even the John Hancock Mutual Insurance Company stopped producing these booklets in the 1980s, though I was pleased to see the company has a few of them available for download on its website. So maybe patriotism isn’t completely dead. It’s just been relegated to PDF.
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This article was last modified on March 1, 2021
This article was first published on July 29, 2011
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