This exhibit presents a selection of editorial illustrations, cartoons, and comic strips from 1920 and 1921, all of which reference Robert Goddard and his "moon rocket". For more artifacts, please visit our series of the same name from The Robert Goddard Collection on Clark University's institutional repository.
From papers of record to local newspapers, the initial reportage around Robert Goddard was largely a circus of groundless sensationalism. Collected together, this collection of images provides insight into Goddard's early years as a public figure, the origins of his complicated and distrusting relationship with the press, and the kinds of strategies and falsehoods that can drive news cycles.
Socio-culturally, the press surrounding Goddard was a major contributor to the space craze of the 1920s, particularly in the United States, Germany, and post-revolutionary Russia. Each country had their own father of modern rocketry, with Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Konstantin Tsiolkovoskii, respectively. These countries were already captivated by the fantasy of space exploration, but the 1920s began to fuse ideas space travel and national identity in ways that would shape 20th century history.
It is important to note that Goddard received virtually no attention after launching the world’s first liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926. He personally made the choice not to announce this achievement. It was a decision influenced, in part, by the disrespect he experienced from a press that had dismissed him as a "moon man".
Photographs were scanned at 400dpi from Clark University's Archives & Special Collections. The works featured here have been selected from the ‘Goddard in the Press’ series, available on Clark University's instutitional repository. Robert and Esther kept exacting records of any news coverage he recieved. These boxes of clippings and scrapbooks are part of the Robert & Esther Goddard Papers.
Some of these illustrations reflect the time period in which they were written, include outdated or offensive terminology and/or caricatures.
Sources:
The Papers of Robert Hutchings Goddard. Clark University Archive. Clark University. Worcester, MA.
Butcher, William. Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Self: Space and Time in the "Voyages Extraordinaires." Macmillan, 1990.
Clary, David A. Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age. Hyperion, 2003.
