Collect the Century 1910-1919 Quiz | U.S. Government

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The first stamp pictures Charlie Chaplin as a character he first introduced in 1914. He reprised the role in numerous films from then through the 1940's. What is the name of this character?

Answer: The Tramp

Some of the films with Charlie Chaplin as The Tramp are "City Lights", "Modern Times", "The Bank", and many others. Charlie Chaplin was born in London and was on his own at an early age due to the death of his father and illnes befalling his mother. He came to the U.S. in 1910 with a vaudeville show. He easily moved to making films and becoming a legend in show business.

2. The next stamp features a federal entity that was created on December 23, 1913. This agency deals with the banks and financial system of the United States. It was created in response to a particularly severe financial panic.

Answer: Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System acts as the nation's central bank. It is composed of a seven member Board of Governors with 12 reserve banks in major cities. It also distributes currency and coin to meet the public's need for cash. The Federal Reserve System has become very complicated! The board of governors is appointed by the President to 14 year terms.

3. This stamp shows a man and woman peering at Marcel Duchamp's painting, "Nude Descending a Staircase". It honors the 1913 Armory Show held at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. This was modern art's American debut. After attending the show, what was Theodore Roosevelt's reaction?

Answer: "That's not art"

Since this was the first "modern" art show, people weren't used to the styles used by the artists, including Impressionist and Cubist works. Among the over 300 artists featured were: Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, George Bellows, Paul Gaugin, Henri Matisse and many, many others.

There were over 1,300 works of art at the show which ran from Feb.17 through March 15, 1913. I looked closely at the painting featured on the stamp and I couldn't see any nudity or a staircase!

4. The stamp shows two men at the top of a telephone pole with an American flag. On June 17, 1914, the final pole was erected connecting all the telephone lines that AT&T had built outward from New York City since 1885 with a separate network of telephone lines on the west coast. In or near what city did this take place?

Answer: Wendover, Utah

The two men are at the top of the connecting pole and they are placing an American flag. The big celebration of this connection took place on June 17, 1914. The ceremonial first call included Alexander Graham Bell, in New York City, his former assistant, Thomas Watson, in San Francisco, President Woodrow Wilson at the White House and the president of AT&T, Theodore Vail in Jekyll Island, Georgia.

5. This stamp shows a man, a microscope and a peanut plant. He was born during the Civil War and died in 1943. He only applied for and received 3 patents for all the work he did saying, "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?". He travelled to the farmers in rural Alabama on the weekends and brought them new ideas and equipment. In 1916 he was named a Fellow of the London Royal Society for the Encourgement of the Arts.

Answer: George Washington Carver

George Washinton Carver's name is synonomous with peanuts. He is also reponsible for teaching farmers in the South about crop rotation as cotton depletes the soil of necessary nutrients. Peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes help put these nutrients back into the soil. I found one of his bulletins online called "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption". Besides eating the peanut, it is used in paints, varnishes, oils, insecticides and cosmetics. The most interesting thing I learned was that peanut oil can be processed to produce glycerol which can be used to make nitroglycerin! Booker T. Washington was the first teacher and principal of Tuskeegee Institute.

Hugh Hammond Bennett made soil conservation a national priorty in 1933 by helping to pass the Soil Conservation Act. Thomas Monroe Campbell was the first Cooperative Extension Agent in the U.S.

6. This stamp features a ship tethered in a lock in The Panama Canal. The Canal was opened on August 15, 1914. As early as 1534 there has been mention of a canal when the leaders of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire ordered a survey for a route through Panama to Peru. They were after the treasure they thought was there. If you were to travel the Panama Canal today from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, what direction would you be travelling?

Answer: northwest

Several countries attempted to build a canal through Panama. The construction was usually set back by harsh conditions such as the extreme heat and mosquitos. In 1698 Scotland tried to find an overland route and failed. An attempt was made by the French in 1880 to build a canal, but was halted after more than 21,000 workers died from yellow fever and malaria. The United States lost more than 5,000 workers but completed the canal in 1914.

7. Jim Thorpe is shown on this stamp. He was the first winner of the decathlon, which was a new sport in the 1912 Olympics held in Sweden. He also played professional football and baseball. For which other event did he win a gold medal?

Answer: pentathlon

In 1913, newspapers published stories of Jim Thorpe playing professional baseball. He played for a minor league team in the Eastern Carolina League for Rocky Mount, NC, receiving as little as $2.00 a game. At that time college players did play professionally using fake names. Jim Thorpe didn't use an alias. He was stripped of his Olympic titles, medals and awards and declared a professional.

Although Thorpe had played as a professional, the Olympic Committee didn't follow the rules for disqualifying him. In 1912, the rulebook stated that protests had to be made within 30 days from the closing ceremonies. The newspaper reports didn't appear until 6 months later in January 1913.

In 1950, an AP poll of almost 400 sportswriters voted Thorpe the "greatest athlete" of the first half of the 20th century. In 1983, he was posthumously reinstated as the winner of the decathlon and the medals were restored to his family. In 2001, ABC's Wide World of Sports named him the Athlete of the Century.

8. The Grand Canyon is featured on this stamp and is part of a federal agency that was created by congress on August 25, 1916. This agency is under the cabinet level Department of the Interior and is responsible for more than 300 other units like the Grand Canyon. What agency is it?

Answer: National Park Service

There are 300 million visitors each year to more than 350 units of the National Park Service. Some of these are National Military Parks like Gettysburg National Military Park. The Golden Gate Bridge in California is designated a National Recreation Area. Cape Hatteras lighthouse is a National Seashore.

The NPS is responsible for 21,000 buildings including Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello and the White House. There are 8,500 miles of roads and trails to patrol as well as 43,000 miles of shoreline to monitor.

There are National Trail Systems, National Wilderness Areas and many other designations.

9. This stamp has a disembodied hand holding a pencil working on a crossword puzzle. The first known published crossword puzzle was by Arthur Wynne from England. It was featured in "The New York World" on December 21, 1913. How did this first puzzle differ from what we now know as the crossword puzzle?

Answer: diamond shaped with no shaded squares

The crossword puzzle has been around since the 1800's and started in Europe. They were originally printed in books and magazines for children. When Mr. Wynne's puzzle was published, crosswords became popular among adults.

10. The next stamp features Jack Dempsey, the world heavyweight boxing champion for seven years, from July 4, 1919 until he lost on September 23, 1926. Dempsey fought in many exhibition matches in the 1930's but was never again a serious contender. How did he lose the championship?

Answer: a 10 round decision to Gene Tunney

William Harrison (Jack) Dempsey started boxing under the name of Kid Blackie in 1914. Most of his early fights were won in the first round by knockout. He won the title by beating Jess Willard in 3 rounds by a knockout. He fought 84 bouts, winning 62 of them, 51 of those were by knockout. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.

11. This stamp features a well-known work of art from World War I. America entered this conflict in April of 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson tried for 2 1/2 years to keep America neutral. What is Uncle Sam saying in this iconic poster?

Answer: I Want You

The poster of Uncle Sam pointing and saying "I Want You" was painted by American artist James Montgomery Flagg after a call was made to artists for works of art to rally the American people together in the war effort. It was originally published as the cover of the July 1916 issue of "Leslie's Weekly" with the title of "What are you doing for preparedness?".

The poster was used for recruiting all branches of the armed forces, nurses and buying victory bonds.

12. A boy and girl are featured on this stamp with tents and a canoe in the foreground. What youth organizations were founded in 1910 and 1912?

Answer: Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts

The Boy Scouts were formed Feb. 8, 1910 and the Girl Scouts were formed March 12, 1912. Both organizations teach citizenship, compassion, moral character and self-reliance to young people.

13. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States is on the next stamp. He served in that capacity during World War I. He was present at the Paris Peace Conference and made major contributions to the peace process. In one of his speeches at that time was the idea for an intergovernmental organization. What was the group called?

Answer: The League of Nations

President Wilson's famous address called "Fourteen Points" was instrumental in paving the way for the League of Nations. One of the speeches main goals was a means to ending the war and preserving the political integrity of small and large nations alike.

The United Nations was formed in 1945 with NATO coming along in 1949.

14. This stamp is a black and white photograph of a young girl working in a mill. It was taken by photographer Lewis W. Hine. Mr. Hine made photos of children working in factories all over the country. What was his ultimate purpose in making these photos?

Answer: child labor reform

Children were hired in factories because adult strength was not needed to run the machines. The children did not have to be paid as much as an adult and they were taken advantage of for this reason. Mr. Hine travelled the country documenting these children to help bring about child labor laws.

15. The final stamp in this decade's collection has the word 'TOYS' written in pieces from construction toys. "Lincoln Logs", "Erector Sets" and "Tinker Toys" were made to encourage children to be creative and think about how things work. Were these construction sets still being made in the early years of the 21st century?

Answer: Yes

All of these sets are still being made and sold in the USA. I remember having fun with them when I was a child, which was a long time ago!

Source: Author golfmom08

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Collect the Century 1910-1919 Trivia Quiz

In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service started issuing a series of stamps called Celebrate the Century. These stamps hightlight people, events, and inventions of each decade in the 1900's. This quiz is inspired by the stamps honoring 1910-1919.

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