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On the date

Tuesday, June 21, 1921

From the day

Perspective: The Anxious Local · Tactile

I gripped the coarse wool of my trousers, my palms sweaty as I paced past the morning bulletins. The news of those murders in Ireland makes the air feel thick and dangerous, like a "stool pigeon" is lurking behind every streetlamp. Eleven cents for a loaf of bread feels like robbery when the papers are full of talk about the new polygraph and those mechanical men they’re calling "robots." I just want to sit and stitch this Raggedy Andy doll for my son, but the fear of the unknown—from medical miracles like insulin to the rising price of gas—clings to me like a heavy shroud.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

FIVE BRITISH OFFICERS MURDERED IN IRELAND; Two Shot in Presence of Women Companions--Three Killed After Kidnapping.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

The Sheik of Araby

Harry B. Smith & Ted Snyder

The must-have

Raggedy Andy

On This Day

  • The Irish village of Knockcroghery was burned by British forces.

    Wikipedia →

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

38,335 days ago

(105 years, 10 days)