A complete vocational education delivered to your own kitchen table
PerI·C·ILitteras
Home Offices · 412 Larkin Avenue · Scranton, Pennsylvania · Branch Posts in 41 States & the Dominion of Canada
A Personal Word from the Director of Enrollments
Friend — and I shall call you friend, for any soul who opens this catalog has already begun the work — there has never been a finer season in the history of the world to better oneself. The mails run swift. The lamps burn bright. A man or woman of ordinary means may today receive, by post, the exact instruction once reserved for the sons of bankers and the daughters of magistrates. We have seen it ten thousand times. We will see it again with you.
Every course on these pages has been refined across two decades of practical correspondence. Our instructors read every lesson you mail us, by hand, and return their notes within nine days. Your tools, books, and certificates of completion are included in the tuition — there are no hidden charges of any kind. If, after one full month of study, you find the course is not for you, post your materials back and we return your money entire. We have always done so. We always shall.
The ambition that brought you to this page is not an accident. Honor it. Enroll.
Florence H. Hollings
Director of Enrollments · Scranton, Pa.
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Course No. 14 · Technical
Practical Radio Repair
From crystal sets to the modern superheterodyne receiver. The most rapidly growing trade in America. Every village wants its repairman.
Tuition · $42.00 (10 mo.)or $4.75/mo.
Curriculum
Fundamentals of Electricity & Magnetism
The Vacuum Tube: Construction and Behavior
Tuned Circuits and Selectivity
Audio Amplification & the Loud Speaker
Antenna Theory and Practical Installation
Troubleshooting with the Galvanometer
Building a Five-Tube Receiver from Components
Setting Up Shop · Pricing the Repair Trade
Included with Tuition
Complete pocket galvanometer in walnut case
Soldering iron, copper bit, and spool of resin-core solder
Three textbooks, hard bound, gold stamped
Wiring diagrams of 18 popular receiver models
Dear Director Hollings — I write from Springfield, where the apple trees stand in full bloom. Three years past I was a tenant farmer with calloused hands and no future I could see. Your catalog reached me by some miracle of the post, and I sent in the enrollment that very night by the kitchen light. Mornings before dawn I rise to study at the table. I sit and learn my new trade with quiet patience while the household sleeps; through the faithful fortnightly lessons — a new man by spring will stand where the old one knelt. I now keep the radio counter at Whitlock's. My wages have tripled. There is butter on our bread.
— Albert J. Mehring · Springfield, Missouri
Course No. 02 · Clerical
Modern Bookkeeping & Accounts
Single & double entry. The art of the balanced ledger. Every farm, store, and small concern needs you.
Tuition · $36.00 (8 mo.)or $4.50/mo.
Curriculum
The Account as an Idea
Day-Book, Journal, and Ledger
Double-Entry: Debit and Credit Made Plain
Reconciling the Bank Statement
Payroll, Wages, and the New Federal Forms
Inventory and the Cost of Goods Sold
Trial Balance & the Closing of Books
Setting Up the Books for a Local Concern
Included with Tuition
Two leather-cornered practice ledgers (red & black)
Esterbrook 442 falcon pen and ink-well
The Hollings Manual of Practical Accounts (412 pp.)
One full set of mock invoices for monthly drill
I am Lucile Pemberton, age twenty-two, of Beebe, Arkansas. Before I enrolled I clerked at the dry-goods counter for nine dollars the week. I completed your course last Michaelmas and the First State Bank of Searcy engaged me as junior bookkeeper at forty-two dollars the month and a chair by the window. My mother has stopped worrying for the first time in my life. Thank you, all of you, very sincerely.
— L. Pemberton · Beebe, Arkansas
Course No. 21 · Creative
Fine Art Fundamentals
Drawing from life. Watercolor washes. Composition for the illustrator and the gallery alike. Patient instruction from working artists.
Tuition · $48.00 (12 mo.)or $4.50/mo.
Curriculum
The Discipline of Seeing
The Line, Alone and in Company
Light, Shadow, and the Forms of Things
Perspective for the Honest Eye
Watercolor: The Wet and the Dry
Drawing the Human Figure with Kindness
Composition: How the Eye Travels the Page
Preparing a Portfolio for the Market
Included with Tuition
One dozen graded drawing pencils & charcoal sticks
Sable round watercolor brush, No. 4
Pan set of twelve student-grade watercolors
Three sketchbooks of cold-press paper
Mrs. Hollings — my husband bought me your course for our anniversary because he saw me drawing the chickens on the back of grocery lists. I am now selling little postcards to the souvenir stand at the lake. I do not yet call myself an artist but I have stopped apologizing when I am drawing.
— Edna M. Sorensen · Bemidji, Minnesota
Course No. 07 · Clerical
Shorthand Mastery (Pitman Method)
120 words to the minute, guaranteed by month nine. The skill that opens every office door in America.
Tuition · $28.00 (9 mo.)or $3.25/mo.
Curriculum
The Pitman Alphabet · Light and Heavy Strokes
Vowel Placement Made Effortless
Phrase Construction & Common Word Forms
Speed Drills with Phonograph Records (provided)
Transcription on the Typewriter
The Court & Conference Speeds (140+ wpm)
Included with Tuition
Pitman Reporter's Notebook, six volumes
Set of three dictation phonograph records
The Hollings Shorthand Primer, illus.
I had not finished my secondary schooling when I enrolled. By the spring I was taking dictation for Judge Coffey at the county courthouse. The Judge is a kind man and tells me my work is faultless. I am saving toward a piano.
— Margaret O'Hare · Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Course No. 09 · Vocational
Automible Mechanics & Engine Repair
The motor-car has come and is here to stay. Every county now needs two competent men. Will you be one of them?
Tuition · $54.00 (12 mo.)or $5.25/mo.
Curriculum
The Internal Combustion Engine in Plain Words
The Carburetor: Theory and Adjustment
Ignition Systems & the Magneto
Cooling, Lubrication, and Engine Health
Transmission, Differential, and Driveshaft
Brakes, Springs, and the Honest Tire
The Common Failings of the Ford Model T
Establishing a Service Garage in Your Town
Included with Tuition
26-piece socket and wrench set in tool roll
Spark plug feeler gauge and timing light
Three textbooks with foldout engine diagrams
Subscription to The Practical Motorist, 12 issues
When my brother came home from the War he had no use of his left hand. The factory would not take him on. He took your course and he reads my mail on Sundays from his own garage on the highway out of Ardmore. He charges fair prices and works in his own time.
— Vernon H. Kibbe (on his brother's behalf) · Ardmore, Oklahoma
Course No. 11 · Vocational
Furniture Construction & Cabinet Joinery
The mortise, the tenon, the dovetail. Build furniture that outlasts you, sell it, or fill your own home with it.
Tuition · $44.00 (10 mo.)or $4.75/mo.
Curriculum
Reading the Grain · Choosing Honest Lumber
The Hand Plane and the Square
The Mortise & Tenon Joint
The Through Dovetail and Half-Blind Variant
Constructing a Kitchen Chair (full project)
The Six-Drawer Highboy (full project)
Finishing: Stain, Shellac, and Hand-Rubbed Oil
Pricing & Selling Your Work
Included with Tuition
Stanley No. 4 smoothing plane
Marking gauge, sliding bevel, and try square
One set of paring chisels (¼", ½", ¾", 1")
Pattern sheets for both major projects
The kitchen chair I built in month five is sat in by my father-in-law and he is not an easy man to please. He turned it over, looked at the dovetails, and said "Well, Henry, you did it." He has said this to me twice in nine years of marriage.
— Henry T. Greaves · Cody, Wyoming
Course No. 18 · Clerical
Commercial Stenography
For the modern office. Combines shorthand with practical letter-writing, filing systems, and the telephone.
Tuition · $32.00 (9 mo.)or $3.75/mo.
Curriculum
Office Manners & the Confident Greeting
Composing the Business Letter
The Vertical Filing System (modern)
The Telephone & the Note Pad
Carbon Copies and the Office Carbon Book
Handling the Difficult Caller with Grace
Included with Tuition
The Hollings Office Letter Companion (illustrated)
Sample carbon paper & ledger sheets
Self-graded practice booklet, weekly
The girls in my building all took the same course and we send each other letters in shorthand for fun on the train home. I was promoted in March. The promotion came with a window.
— Beatrice Kallio · Hibbing, Minnesota
Course No. 23 · Creative
Show-Card Lettering & Sign Painting
Every grocer, druggist, and theater needs cards. The skill that pays by the hour from your first finished alphabet.
Tuition · $24.00 (6 mo.)or $4.25/mo.
Curriculum
The Square Brush & How It Loads
Single-Stroke Roman, Capitals
The Casual Hand & the Bold Hand
Color Theory for the Window Card
Composition: Headline, Body, Price
Pricing Your Cards · Building a Route
Included with Tuition
Three Grumbacher show-card brushes (¼", ½", ¾")
Bottle set of show-card colors, twelve hues
One ream of card stock for practice
Alphabet sheets, six historical hands
I do the cards at the picture house every Friday for the next week's show and they pay me three dollars and admit me free besides. I am sixteen years old. My mother saves the dollars in a coffee tin for college.
— Russell P. Niemi · Calumet, Michigan
Begin Your Enrollment
Complete the form below. A welcome packet is mailed within seventy-two hours. The first lesson follows by the next post.
"We do not believe in luck. We believe in the post, in the lamp, and in the steady hand of the student. The third is always the most important. — F. H. H."
