Tell us your own Tricentennial story (1976)

I can't believe it's been a year since we last looked at the book, The Tricentennial Report: Letters from America. Published by the Atlantic Richfield Company in 1977, the book collects the hopes and fears of common people looking forward 100 years to the United States Tricentennial.

The advertisement below appeared in the June 16, 1976 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA) and asked for submissions from the general public.

While we here at the Paleo-Future blog usually abhor input from readers, this seems like as good a time as any to open up the floor to discussion. What do you think the year 2076 A.D. will look like? Remember, you have 32 years on these people. Your predictions should then be 32 years smarter. Right, smarty-pants? Right?


When you're done with your prediction, mail it to:

The Mayor of Blog
10101 Blogosphere Lane
Internet, California 95041

See also:
The Tricentennial Report: Letters from America (1977)
Lisa's Picture of 2076 (1976)
Tricentennial Report Ad (Oakland Tribune, 1976)
Animals of 2076 (1977)

Animals of 2076 (1977)

The quote below from Phoebe Burdg of San Martin, California was featured in the Tricentennial Report, published in 1977. Phoebe describes animals of 2076 that will of course be mechanical.

The only live animals are these necessary to provide meat. Any others are expertly mechanized duplicates of the real thing, as depicted in the many museums around the world . . . .They are manufactured on demand. A family may have an animal dependent on their ability to give credits for it.

See also:
The Tricentennial Report: Letters from America (1977)
Lisa's Picture of 2076 (1976)
Tricentennial Report Ad (Oakland Tribune, 1976)

Tricentennial Report Ad (Oakland Tribune, 1976)

This ad requesting submissions for the Tricentennial Report begins with, "We have always been a nation more interested in the promise of the future than in the events of the past."

Curiously, the second sentence then plays Debbie Downer with, "Somehow, the events of the past few years have made us doubt ourselves and our future." Watergate? The Vietnam War? I didn't know the U.S. Bicentennial was such a depressing event.

Below is the full text of the ad:

We have always been a nation more interested in the promise of the future than in the events of the past.

Somehow, the events of the past few years have made us doubt ourselves and our future.

Here at Atlantic Richfield, however, we see the future as an exciting time. The best of times. And we know that all of us can achieve a splendid future by planning for it now.

We'd like your help. We need your vision. We want you to tell us about the changes you would like to see take place in America - and in our American way of life.

For example:

What ideas do you have for making life more fun than it is now?
What changes would you like to see in government? (City? State? Federal?)
What do you envision as the best way to solve our energy problems?
What about the future of business? (More regulation by government? Less?)

Or if those topics don't appeal to you, pick one that does.
How should our physical world be altered?
Do you recommend that we live underground? In plastic bubbles?
Will family life change? Will we choose a spouse by computer? Will divorce be illegal?
What should our schools be like? Should machines replace teachers?
What will make us laugh? What will be funny that isn't funny now?
What new major sports would you like to see? Three-dimensional chess? Electronic billiards?

Whatever your idea may be, we want to know about it. Write it. Draw it. Sing it. But send it.

In about six months we plan to gather your responses, analyze them, and make a full report on what we've found out. We believe the report will provide a fascinating and valuable view of America's hopes, dreams, fears, and visions. We'll make sure it reaches the people who are in positions to consider and act on it.

Along the way we will make television commercials and newspaper and magazine ads out of many of the ideas so you can see what other people are thinking.

Please note that all ideas submitted shall become public property without compensation and free of any restriction on use and discourse.

See also:
The Tricentennial Report: Letters from America (1977)
Lisa's Picture of 2076 (1976)

Lisa's Picture of 2076 (1976)

Young Lisa Gilvar of Happy Hollow School in Wayland, Massachusetts submitted this picture for the Tricentennial Report, published in 1977. Domed habitats in the sky seem pretty cool to me. I might go with a different color scheme for the poles, but hey, I'm no designer of the future.

See also:
The Tricentennial Report: Letters from America (1977)

The Tricentennial Report: Letters From America (1977)

Paleo-Future reader Mr. Wallace recently inquired about an advertisement he came across many years ago that asked people to send in their ideas of what the year 2076 would look like.

After some searching I found a book called the Tricentennial Report: Letters From America, sponsored by the Atlantic Richfield Company and published in 1977. This was the year after the United States Bicentennial, which is when the solicitations most likely took place.

From the introduction to the report, "The people had been asked by Atlantic Richfield Company in newspapers, magazines and television advertisements, to discuss their country's future. Some 60,000 Americans responded and this report is a distillation of their ideas and feelings."

The book includes drawings from schoolchildren, letters from average Americans, speculative fiction and interviews with forward-thinking professionals and philosophers. Stay tuned for great excerpts from this volume.

I'm still looking for the advertisements bought in newspapers and magazines by the Atlantic Richfield Company asking for submissions. Anyone with additional information about the Tricentennial Report is encouraged to educate us all about this intriguing project.


The image above is from page 32 of the report. Stay tuned for more.