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On the date

Saturday, February 26, 1921

From the day

Perspective: The Future Historian · Tactile

I run my thumb over the rough, unbleached cotton of a Raggedy Andy doll, tracing the red yarn hair that marks this era’s tactile simplicity. This fabric carries the weight of a stagnant economy, a physical manifestation of a time when men like Gary refuse to lower steel prices, crushing the hope for industrial relief as the winter wind howls. I pull my wool coat tighter and slap exactly $0.11 onto the counter for a single loaf, the coins cold against my palm. This meager transaction is the pulse of 1921, a fragile tether between the weary worker and the cold, unyielding metal of a world awaiting its next revolution.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

WILLIAMS ASSAILS GARY'S STEEL PRICES; HE WON'T CUT THEM; Controller Writes Him They Should Come Down $25 to Stimulate Buying. SAYS PROFIT IS EXCESSIVE Steel Men, Meeting Here, Meantime Plan a WorldConference.ASK GARY TO ARRANGE IT Purpose to "Create Good Will Between" Our ManufacturersHere and Europe.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

The Sheik of Araby

Harry B. Smith & Ted Snyder

The must-have

Raggedy Andy

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

applesaucebaloneycheaterscrush

Flapper

bee's kneescat's pajamasgiggle watershebahotsy-totsy

Gangster

big cheesebump offstool pigeongatfall guy

Catchphrases of 1921

  • Ain't we got fun?

Tech Check

Robots (The Term 'Robot'), Polygraph (Modern) & Insulin (Medical Tech).

Cost of Living (1920)

Loaf of Bread

$0.11

Gallon of Gas

$0.30

Average Home

$6,296

New Car

$575

Meanwhile

  • Post-WWI RecessionSevere deflation and collapse of agricultural prices.

Time Elapsed

38,450 days ago

(105 years, 125 days)