Going Going Gone: Vanishing Americana
by By Jonas, Susan and Nissenson, Marilyn
Category: Social Science , Popular Culture

Whatever happened to vinyl records? For that matter, where did the milkman go? Has anyone sent a singing telegram recently, or made multiple copies with carbon paper, or ordered a malted at a soda fountain?In the last few decades, many familiar objects and ideas have vanished from our lives or are teetering on the brink of obsolescence. As the turn of the century approaches, Going, Going, Gone celebrates and eulogizes the quintessential aspects of mid-twentieth-century life - good and bad - that are disappearing forever: American elm trees, white gloves, enclosed phone booths, slide rules, dental cavities, and the smell of burning leaves, among many, many others. Accompanied by evocative photographs of each subject in its heyday, these lighthearted but informative essays conjure up dozens of items that Americans use, see, surround themselves with, and think about daily - or did until yesterday.