media of new geography and the Franck-Conger World Letters, Inc. expedition of 1933–1934

The 1920s and early 1930s witnessed a rising interest in “new geography”, which sought to instill in students a sympathetic worldview and a desire for peace. Because textbooks were viewed as unable to keep pace with a rapidly changing world, schools considered various media as supplements. World Letters, Inc. was a unique corporation founded in 1932 to sponsor travel writers bringing the world via letters to students and others who could not afford to travel abroad. This paper reviews the World Letters program—how it was conceived, publicized, and enrolled subscribers, students as well as adults. The 1933–34 expedition, with Harry Franck as the travel writer and Beach Conger as his assistant and later the travel writer himself, is discussed. That world journey started in New York City and wound its way through Europe, North Africa, and southern Asia, ending in Singapore. Radio and newspapers were the main mass media that assisted salesmen in persuading prospects to enroll in the program. Mass-produced lithographed letters were the medium employed to communicate with enrollees. The World Letters program, after a rocky beginning in 1933, went on to become popular in the classrooms until its demise in 1941 due to the spreading conflict associated with World War II; during that time World Letters, Inc. succeeded in reigniting an interest in world geography in the American classroom.