Wheels of Progress (ca. 1927).mp4

Made in the wake of the 1921 Federal Highway Act’s efforts to construct a robust network of roads in the US, this educational film works to bind cars and roads to a new, modern experience of time-space compression. Offering an overview of the evolution of transportation, from horse-drawn carriages and bicycles to cars, trucks, and buses, the film also argues for the benefits of cars and roads for the worker, now freed to live in the suburbs and work in “fresh air and attractive surroundings.” Like other Bureau of Public Road films, Wheels of Progress circulated in Latin American countries in the 1920s to help the US press its case for a broader Pan-American transportation network. As film historian Lee Grieveson claims, this was a “film made to facilitate US economic expansion.” Watch for a cameo by President Calvin Coolidge.