Alexz Nickrand

Assignment 2

16 February, 2017

New-Yorker Cover
 The New-Yorker magazine, dated February 13, 1926, priced at fifth-teen cents. What can

we take from this cover? It gives us a tropical feel, and reminds us of vacation with showing the

state of Florida, boats, fish, palm trees, houses/buildings, and the ocean; There are many

details that we can interpret. When we look for the repetition and contrast of this cover, we

gather that the details repeated exactly are the leafy green palm trees which include about

twenty-two of them. If we look closely enough, we notice the cover has multiple tiny people

roaming the state, maybe tourists or Floridians? Most of these tiny people are around similar

houses/buildings such as a town area. These houses/buildings are white with an orange to

brown roof. When we look at the ocean surrounding the state, we see similar orange fish along

with orange/white boats. Even though a lot of details have repetition in this cover, we can also

look for those that differ. All the houses/buildings are not the same, some have white roofs,

orange ones, and brown ones. They also differ in style such as they appear to look like houses,

church, school, and town area. The boats we see in the water might have the same color but

some of them are steam boats, ferries, and jet boats. Surrounding the boats are orange fish

that differ in size, some small, some large, and one whale shooting out water. The details that

stand alone in this cover that do not have any kind of repetition is the big train going through

the state. This train is white with green wheels, and has steam coming out of it. Other details

include the teal lake toward the bottom of the state along with a tiny white alligator by it. There

are many details to this map of Florida that we can look closer on.

As we already noticed, there is a date at the top of this cover, February 13, 1926, and this

was on a Saturday. The president during this time was Calvin Coolidge. No major events

occurred on this date but there were a few during the previous week leading up to this day
such as Broadway making a record of being sold at seven dollars, and multiple sports news.

During 1926, Miami, Florida experienced a hurricane which started to form on September

eleventh by Puerto Rico, and made its way to Miami seven days later. This hurricane was known

as the Great Miami. The storm was first spotted by a ship crew. They put this hurricane at

category four with winds up to 128mph along with 12 to 15-foot-high storm surges. This

hurricane was one of the most destructive ones in US history and the destruction that it

brought on Miami caused them to go into the great depression a little earlier from when the

rest of the country did. Over 300 people died, and 6,000 of them were injured due to the storm.

There were millions of dollars in damages which is the main reason why Floridas economy

started to struggle first. With all of this happening in 1926, we wouldnt have guessed it just by

looking at this cover. When we analyze this New-Yorker cover, we think that Florida is the place

to visit in the 1920s. We look at the map of Florida and see a welcoming vacation spot. Would

you have guessed that this state was undergoing a hurricane, and starting out the great

depression in 1926? Probably not. Floridians started to overcome the Great Depression in the

early 30s when Roosevelt became president. He came up with the CCC, civilian conservation

corps, which about 40,000 Floridians participated in. The president also rebuilt damages that

the Great Miami hurricane caused. This helped Florida and the rest of the United States slowly

get out of the Great Depression.

Now what does all this mean? Yes, we notice the obvious map of the state of Florida but

what is the actual meaning of this New-Yorker cover? I believe the meaning of this cover is to

show people viewing it how welcoming the state is by showing town areas, buildings, boats,

beaches, fish, etc. The artist wanted to portray a tropical scene, and in hopes of getting people
to visit the beautiful state. Usually when people think of a vacation spot, they think of

anywhere warm with a beach, and always sunny which ties in with visiting Florida. I think

another key meaning is the cover sends a positive message and not a negative one by showing

little details of what the state can offer as I discussed previously with tourists, hometown

people, beaches, and boating.

 Work Cited

Great Depression and The New Deal. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from

https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/depress/depress1.htm

The People History -- Steve Pearson. (n.d.). 1926 Important News and Significant Events,

Key Technology, Fashions and Popular Culture. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1926.html