Being a librarian and compulsive reader, Norwood’s 150th anniversary celebrations made me think about the role books have played in the lives of Norwood residents over the years. Donated to the town by Mr. and Mrs. George H. Morrill in memory of their daughter Sarah Bond Morrill, Morrill Memorial Library has been serving Norwood residents since 1898. The Morrill family began manufacturing printing ink here before 1872 and had fourteen buildings in Norwood when they donated the library. During Norwood’s 50th anniversary in 1922, books were an important source of income and employment for residents at various socioeconomic levels. At that time Norwood was home to several printing companies and related industries, including a textile manufacturer and tanneries making fabric and leather for book covers.

To say entertainment options were much different than they are today would be an understatement. In 1922 reading books, magazines, and newspapers was a large part of what Americans could do to entertain themselves during any at home leisure time. The 1920s were the start of the Golden Age of Radio. Listening to the news, sports, music, and other programs on the radio was an option for homes that could afford the technology. In addition to radios, Victrolas and other early record players could also be found in private homes in 1922. Commercial television broadcasting was very limited until after World War II but by the mid-1950s TV had become the dominant medium. VCRs and cable TV didn’t appear in homes until in the mid-1970s. Cassette tapes came out in the 1960s and Sony’s first Walkman in the late 1970s. CDs followed in the early 1980s and DVDs in the late 1990s. Without the ability to record and watch on demand offered by VCRs and DVRs, TV broadcast schedules meant if you weren’t available during scheduled air time, you missed your program.

I was curious about what people might have been reading in 1922 and 1972 so I did some research into what books won awards or were published in those years. One author had books published in both years – Agatha Christie. Secret Adversary was published in 1922 and Elephants Can Remember in 1972. Mysteries are an enduring genre! Mysteries aside, reading tastes and society have changed quite a bit in the last 100 years so I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I started looking.

The Newbery Award, given by the American Library Association for distinguished contributions to American literature for children, was first awarded in 1922. I don’t think families today are reading Award Winner The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Willem van Loon or Honor Book The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs. However, at least one non-award-winning children’s book published in 1922 remains a beloved classic, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

As for adult books from 1922, few readers remember Pulitzer Prize winning author Booth Tarkington although his win for Alice Adams was his second Pulitzer. James Joyce’s Ulysses, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf on the other hand are still found on many high school and college literature reading lists. Fitzgerald had two titles out in 1922: The Beautiful and the Damned, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The latter was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt in 2008.

Two other titles from that year saw success on the screen. John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga has been made into a miniseries twice, in 1967 and again in 2002. Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April was made into a movie in 1991. 

Emily Post’s first etiquette book was published in 1922. There was a large market for etiquette books in the twentieth century and Post’s books were updated frequently to reflect changing social situations. Emily Post’s great-great-granddaughter Lizzie Post co-authored the 19th edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette published in 2017.

Children’s books from 1972 seem to have stood the test of time better than those from 1922. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien won the Newbery Award in 1972. Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book that year. Marjorie W. Sharmat’s Nate the Great series began in 1972. Picture book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst remains popular as well.

Pulitzer Prize winners that year included: Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash for biography and Neither Black nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States by Carl N. Degler for history. Many authors whose names we recognize including: Isaac Asimov (The Gods Themselves), Michael Crichton (The Terminal Man), David Halberstam (The Best and the Brightest), P.D. James (An Unsuitable Job for a Woman), and David McCullough (The Great Bridge) had books published in 1972.

By 1972, the New York Times Best Seller list had been in existence for forty years. I found titles many readers have heard of, even if they haven’t read them. Although published in 1971, Herman Wouk’s Winds of War spent much of 1972 at the top of the list. Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Arthur Hailey’s Wheels also appeared on the list that year.

The popular current PBS series All Creatures Great and Small is based on a book published in 1972. The name of the program is also the first title in a series of books by James Alfred Wight, pen name James Herriot. It was originally made into a TV series in the late 1970s starring Robert Hardy and Peter Davidson. The second season of the current adaptation just aired on PBS in January of this year.

Check out these titles or others we’ve gathered from these Norwood anniversary years. For those of you who prefer technology over hard copy, some of the titles are available as audiobooks and/or e-books. If you do read or listen using digital media, remember such technology was the stuff of science fiction for Norwood residents in 1922 and 1972.

Victoria Andrilenas is a Reference Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 10, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.