Toynbee tiles

thumb|upright=1.1|

The Toynbee tiles, also called Toynbee plaques, are messages of unknown origin found embedded in asphalt of streets in about two dozen major cities in the United States and three South American cities. Since the 1980s, several hundred tiles have been discovered. They are generally about the size of an American license plate (roughly ), but sometimes considerably larger. They contain some variation of the following inscription:

TOYNBEE IDEA

IN MOViE `2001

RESURRECT DEAD

ON PLANET JUPiTER

</poem></blockquote>

Some of the more elaborate tiles also feature cryptic political statements or exhort readers to create and install similar tiles. The material used for making the tiles was initially unknown, but evidence has emerged that they may be primarily made of layers of linoleum and asphalt crack-filling compound. Articles about the tiles began appearing in the mid-1990s, though references may have started to appear in the mid-1980s.

History

The first confirmed sighting of the Toynbee tiles was in Philadelphia in 1983, and their first known reference in the media came in 1994 in The Baltimore Sun. A 1983 letter to The Philadelphia Inquirer referenced a Philadelphia-based campaign with themes similar to those mentioned in the tiles (e.g., resurrecting the dead on Jupiter, Stanley Kubrick, and Arnold J. Toynbee) but did not refer to tiles. Since 2002, very few new tiles considered to be the work of the original artist have appeared outside of the immediate Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, although one notable sighting appeared in suburban Connecticut in 2006, and one appeared in Edison, New Jersey in 2007. Presumed copycat tiles have been spotted in Noblesville, Indiana; Buffalo, New York; Syracuse, New York; San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; and Roswell, New Mexico as well as a 1997 sighting in Detroit, Michigan and a 2013 sighting in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Many older tiles considered to be the work of the original tiler have been eroded by traffic, but older tiles remain in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio; and South America, among other locations.

thumb|alt=A Toynbee tile in New York City, 2013|A Toynbee tile in New York City, 2013

On June 19, 2013, tiles resembling the Toynbee tiles appeared on a street in Topeka, Kansas. They were removed by the evening of the next day. Less than a month later, on July 17, 2013, a tile resembling the Toynbee tiles appeared on a street in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Newer tiles have been embedded on several major highways in Pennsylvania, including Interstate 476 in Delaware County, and on Interstate 95. About six more were found on U.S. 1 northbound starting in Drexel Hill in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 2007 and 2008. The plates are much larger than the originals and have red italic writing on them. In 2016, some tiles started re-appearing in Philadelphia.

Interpretations

People and things referred to

thumb|Commonly, a city will have a couple of large and colorful tiles along with numerous small and simple tiles like this one, just a block from the [[White House.]]

In a documentary film about the tiles, Justin Duerr assumes that "Toynbee" refers to the 20th century British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, and that "Kubrick's 2001" is a reference to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film co-written and directed by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, about a crewed mission to Jupiter. The former speculation site toynbee.net theorized that 'Toynbee' referred to Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector".

The majority of tiles contain text similar to that above, although a second set is often found nearby. Several of these allude to a mass conspiracy between the press (including newspaper magnate John S. Knight of Knight-Ridder), the U.S. government, the USSR (including tiles seemingly made years after the Soviet Union's dissolution), and "hellion Jews". although the house was the former residence of a named recluse and alleged tile-maker, as shown in the 2011 documentary film Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Toynbee-tile enthusiasts believe that a native Philadelphian created the Toynbee tiles because of the large number that appear in the city, their apparent age, the variety of carving styles, the presence of the "tile creator's screed," and the Philadelphia address on the Santiago tile.

Possible subjects

Arnold J. Toynbee's "The Idea"

According to letters written by the tiler, allegedly uncovered by Toynbee tile researchers in Philadelphia in 2006, "Toynbee's idea" stems from a passage in Arnold Toynbee's book Experiences:

Ray Bradbury's "The Toynbee Convector"

Another possible interpretation is that the Toynbee reference comes from the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector",

David Mamet's "4 A.M."

Playwright David Mamet has spoken of his belief that the tiles are an homage to one of his plays, and has described it as "the weirdest thing that ever happened". In his 1983 work "4 A.M." (published in the collection Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues in 1985), a radio host based on Larry King impatiently listens to a caller who contends that the movie 2001, based on the writings of Arnold Toynbee, speaks of the plan to reconstitute life on Jupiter. The radio show host quickly points out the factual errors in the caller's assertion and the logical fallacies of his plan.

Researchers for the 2011 documentary Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles claim to have uncovered several pieces of evidence that predate Mamet's play, including a 1980 call by the tiler to Larry King's radio show. They cite a 1983 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer which mentions a local man "contacting talk shows and newspapers to spread the message" about bringing the dead to life on Jupiter, as depicted in the film 2001.

Potential creators

In 1983, a man identifying himself as a social worker named James Morasco contacted talk shows and newspapers with his theory of colonizing Jupiter with the dead inhabitants of Earth, claiming to have come across the idea while reading a book by historian Arnold Toynbee. In a conversation with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Morasco discussed how Toynbee's book contained a theory on bringing dead molecules back to life and that this was later depicted in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In 2003, Worgul called the only James Morasco in the Philadelphia telephone book and was told by the man's wife that her husband had died in March that year, aged 88. When asked about the tiles, Morasco's widow said that her husband "didn't know anything about it." Duerr believed Verna used the name "James Morasco" as an alias. The city of Chicago has declared the tiles "vandalism" and removes any tiles that it finds, considering them to be "no different than graffiti." One tile has been damaged and unreadable since 1996. It is located at the corners of Talcahuano and Santa Fé streets in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

There is no public or private agency dedicated to conserving Toynbee tiles. Many tiles now exist only as photographs taken before their destruction. The tiles have enjoyed attention from American and European media outlets, including from The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, Spiegel Online, and NPR. In 2011, Philadelphia-based filmmakers Justin Duerr, Jon Foy, Colin Smith, and Steve Weinik released Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, an independent documentary film about the tiles. The film was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary category, and Foy won the category's Directing Award.

, the Streets Department of Philadelphia recognizes Toynbee Tiles as street art, and "will save one or two of the Toynbee Tiles only if there is a fast and affordable method for removing them."

References

External links

Toynbee Tile Map Interactive and searchable map of all known Toynbee tiles. Released April 2014.
Master site for Toynbee tiles (archived on Wayback Machine), includes list of all known tiles, by city, as of 2003
Archived copy of the site about the Brazilian tiles
– deadlink, also connected to http://resurrectdead.proboards.com/ which is also dead