July 1957

Astounding Science Fiction, “Astounding Science Fiction, July 1957,” Drew University Library Special Collections

In this advertisement from the July 1957 edition of Astounding Science Fiction is a full-page black-and-white job advertisement put out by the Ford Instrument Co, which is based in Long Island City, New York. The majority of the advertisement is made of up text written in a paragraph format, with bold section titles, and positions they are hiring for. The bottom right of the advertisement features the logo of the company which is a stylized letter “F” with the initials of the company going across it.  The advertisement also features a portrait of the company's President at the time, Raymond Jahn. On the bottom left, there is a section intended for a person to fill out their information to mail out in order to get more information about the positions that are available to be filled in the company. The company was looking for engineers to work for them, and was looking to entice people to inquire about the jobs by including benefits of working with the company, such as the “plants and cafeteria are air-conditioned” and “liberal benefits relative to sickness, accident, and life insurance, hospitalization, etc.”  This advertisement is targeted towards men, which is demonstrated through the language used, like when referring to the starting salaries being above average as a way “to attract men of a high calibre.” Similar to the advertisement from 1948, the expected reader of Astounding Science Fiction would be a man, perhaps interested in science and math.