Jigsaw puzzle:Where Peace & Quiet Reign

It is difficult, perhaps, to appreciate the American craze for jigsaw puzzles that occurred in 1932 and 1933. Fueled in part by people's lack of inexpensive entertainments during the Great Depression, manufacturers produced, sold, and lent jigsaw puzzles in the hundreds of thousands. Americans couldn't get enough of them. Rochester's own Regent Specialties Incorporated, a lithographer, quickly retooled to manufacture jigsaw puzzles. Regent supplied many firms with very inexpensive advertising puzzles, touting everything from toothpaste to life insurance. Regent also made higher quality puzzles for sale under its own brand, which featured some shaped pieces. Parker Brothers's famous Pastime Puzzles included very detailed shaped pieces, and Regent undoubtedly modeled its puzzles after these best-sellers.