|
The Hobby Spirit | ||
When I think of ideal hobbies, I think of those Popular Science magazines of the 50's with articles ranging from how to build plywood lawn furniture to Tesla coils. And I think of those ads in the back which promise plans for the most fantastic projects for only $5. There's something bold and distinctly American embodied in this zeal for "tinkering" with the latest technology and constantly improving one's home and surroundings.
Thanks to the internet, there are still places where you can buy plans for hovercraft, cars, boats, and other audacious projects - and just a click away.
Many woodworking and tinkering magazines of the past have died off, while others have continually reinvented themselves, or directed their energies into new things. The subjects come and go with the cutting edge technology of the times, but the spirit stays the same.
The tinkering magazines of the 50's are filled with woodworking and home improvement projects, with a sprinkling of the occasional electronics project related to tuning up the phonograph or maybe a one-tube project.
In the 70's, magazines like Byte and Popular Electronics were loaded with projects you could build by soldering up components from Radio Shack. The ones in Byte magazine would occasionally require a bit of assembly language programming. Heathkit offered an entire catalog of electronics projects from simple meters to color television sets. Today, things have drifted toward hobby activities that provide more fun in less time, but the mainstays are still there.
I have captured a few images below from project books of the past to give a feel for what these books were like.
 |
 |
 |
| 1930 by Grosset & Dunlap Harold Wakeling was the Home Workshop Editor of Popular Science Monthly |
An ambitious tilt-top table from the book at left | A plan typical of the book |
 |
 |
 |
| A collection of projects from Popular Mechanics, 1955 edition | Science & Mechanics October 1953 |
A Tesla coil project from Science & Mechanics |
 |
 |
. |
| 1959 by Doubleday in the American Garden Guild series |
Back cover illustrated with projects from the book | . |
One of the interesting aspects of the older books is that their activites tend toward the ambitious. This spirit is still preserved at many online hobby sites.
Last modified on