Alvis Collins (1888 - 1977)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Alvis' lifetime.

In 1888, in the year that Alvis Collins was born, on July 25th, a court stenographer from Salt Lake City - Frank Edward McGurrin - decisively beat the competition in a typing contest in Ohio. He was supposedly the only person who used touch typing and is believed to have invented the method. Touch typing is ubiquitous now - but Frank's win is what convinced everyone that the method was good!

In 1896, he was just 8 years old when on August 17th, the first pedestrian v car fatality occurred in Great Britain. Bridget Driscoll, age 44, was walking with her family on the grounds of The Crystal Palace in London when she was hit by a car driven by Arthur James Edsall. Edsall claimed to be going 4.5 mph and Driscoll's death was ruled an "accidental death" after an inquest.

In 1905, Alvis was 17 years old when the Industrial Workers of the World was founded. An international labor union founded in Chicago, it was most often referred to as the "Wobblies" and had ties to the socialist movement and the anarchist movement. At its peak, it had 150,000 members.

In 1930, he was 42 years old when as head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, William Hays established a code of decency that outlined what was acceptable in films. The public - and government - had felt that films in the '20's had become increasingly risque and that the behavior of its stars was becoming scandalous. Laws were being passed. In response, the heads of the movie studios adopted a voluntary "code", hoping to head off legislation. The first part of the code prohibited "lowering the moral standards of those who see it", called for depictions of the "correct standards of life", and forbade a picture from showing any sort of ridicule towards a law or "creating sympathy for its violation". The second part dealt with particular behavior in film such as homosexuality, the use of specific curse words, and miscegenation.

In 1977, in the year of Alvis Collins's passing, on January 21st, President Carter pardoned "draft dodgers" - men who avoided the draft during the Vietnam War. He fulfilled a campaign promise with the pardon. But it only applied to civilian evaders - the estimated 500,000 to 1 million active-duty personnel who went AWOL were not included.