Rare Film Takes Us Back in Time [Video]
The year is 1911. World War 1 has not yet begun. Just three years earlier, Henry Ford introduced the Model T and William Durant founded General Motors. Much of America still traveled by horse and buggy. News papers were the only true form of mass commnunication. The first commercial radio broadcast was still nine years away. Television, the internet and cell phones were not even an idea at the time. Less than thirty percent of all homes even had a telephone.
Much of life was simpler. We take many of the conveniences we have today for granted, but there are some elements of that time that frankly, don't look so bad. Here's a rare film from the Museum of Modern Art. The film was made by Svenska Biografteatern, a Swedish company that traveled the world to document several modern cities of the time. This film was made of New York City in spring or early summer of 1911.