What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years

Three illustrations for Amherst Magazine.

In 1900, Ladies’ Home Journal ran a bold piece that would have a rich afterlife. Its headline: “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years.”

The author, an engineer named John Elfreth Watkins, got a lot right. He predicted something uncannily close to the internet and cell phones. Then again, he was sure that C, X and Q would be gone from the alphabet.

The other predictions from 1900 include that fruit would be much bigger in our time and marriage will be replaced by an annual contract.