When
Monday 3rd Feb, 9:45 am

Where
Room B2

Hashtag
#T6

Category
Research in science communication

Presenter
William Palmer

Abstract

More than 500 million Little Blue Books with 2300 different titles were produced between 1919 and 1978 with the greater part of that production being prior to 1951. Little Blue Books covered a wide range of human interests but there were many Little Blue Books on science topics. These were not aimed at a technically competent audience, but rather at providing a general education to Americans at a very low price. This study will explain how Little Blue Books started, their scope generally, the areas of science covered, the quality of scientific information in Little Blue Books and some salient biographical background about the authors of Little Blue Books.

Due to the enormous numbers of Little Blue Books printed, it is considered likely that they played a major role in the scientific education of American children and the scientific knowledge of adults between 1920 and 1950.