Once upon a time... before the internet was born... there were pamphlets of all shapes and sizes and topics. Pamphlets to answer your questions about religion, taxes, the economy, welfare states, even how to dive.
As a youngster glued to the television I remember seeing commercials for these. I always wondered what was so special about Pueblo, Colo., where one needed to write to receive this information.
The Government Consumer Information Office (“Consumer” has been changed to “Citizen”) and the Gov't Printing Office are located in Pueblo, Colo. and have been publishing relevant information on a myriad of topics since 1970. They have since changed with the times and now provide this information on the internet as well.
I found a collection of these pamphlets that predate the ‘70s (and Pueblo) and go back as far as the ‘40s and ‘50s. The information is dated and some of it seems silly now, but back then it was one of the few ways information was available outside of a library or one of the popular encyclopedia publishers. The topics were contemporary and interesting and seem to be inane in that they lack the obvious similarities to propaganda. Only a few in my collection look to sway the public by identifying adverse government trends such as high expenditures and taxation... some things never change.
My research ends there. Please leave something in the comments if you have ever seen one of these or the series that came out of Pueblo in the 1970s.
Visit the blog and tell me how far out (or off) some of the information is in this First Aid booklet from 1957.
Greg Van Antwerp is a Brookfield resident and blogger, who can be found on the weekends in search of a good “dig” or a good story. You can read more about his adventures by visiting his blog.
