A TRIP THROUGH THE HERITAGE ARCHIVES REVEALS WHAT THE WORLD WAS UP TO THE YEAR DISNEY DEBUTED ITS FIRST PRINCESS AND LOU GEHRIG WAS THE BEST FIRST BASEMAN IN BASEBALL
June 3, 2025
There were a lot of firsts in 1937 – the first time pedestrians and vehicles crossed the brand-new Golden Gate Bridge, the first time Daffy Duck appeared in a Looney Tunes cartoon and the first time SPAM graced grocery-store shelves, just for starters. 1937 was also the year John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was published, the year the Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic in New York City, the year the Hindenburg exploded and the year Amelia Earhart vanished during her ambitious attempt to fly around the world. Below, we look back at some of the year’s other major moments.
SPORTS
In 1937, New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig was the most feared slugger in baseball, batting .351 with 37 homers and 158 runs batted in. Also that year, for the second consecutive season and the fifth time in his Hall of Fame career, he’d help bring the World Championship home to the city of his birth. This 1937 game-worn Gehrig jersey with photo matches to two different home-run games sold for $2,580,000 in an August 2019 Heritage auction.
FINE ART
Known for her roles in The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Wuthering Heights, actress Merle Oberon became a star of another sort when she sat for this 1937 portrait by Gerald L. Brockhurst, one of the premier portrait painters in 1930s England. The alluring oil painting, which realized $360,500 in a December 2018 Heritage auction, became one of the artist’s most recognized celebrity portraits and was shown in the Royal Academy’s 1937 Summer Exhibition in London and the 1938 Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Exhibition. The work’s final auction result was more than six times its high pre-auction estimate and established a new world record for Brockhurst.
BOOKS
Published in September 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is one of the most widely read works of fantasy literature, and it began as a bedtime story for his children. This first-edition presentation copy of the book that introduced the world to Bilbo Baggins and spawned the massively successful sequel The Lord of the Rings, is inscribed by the author and sold for $300,000 in a June 2024 Heritage auction.
COMICS
In March 1937, Detective Comics – the title that gave DC Comics its name – hit spinner racks for the first time. Featuring cover art by Vincent Sullivan, the issue’s interior introduced such characters as Slam Bradley, Buck Marshall and Gumshoe Gus rendered by Golden Age legends Joe Shuster, Creig Flessel and others. Graded CGC FN+ 6.5, this exceptional copy of Detective Comics No. 1 sold for $228,000 in an April 2025 Heritage auction.
MOVIES
Walt Disney’s first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in Hollywood on December 21, 1937. With its innovative use of Technicolor and multiplane camera introducing depth and vibrancy to the art of animated storytelling, the movie became the top-grossing film of 1938 and remains one of the most beloved films of all time. This large-format poster for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which realized $81,250 in a December 2024 Heritage auction, depicts myriad memorable scenes from the groundbreaking film, including Snow White’s terrifying trip through the forest, her meeting of the dwarfs, her awakening through true love’s kiss and the Evil Queen brewing her potions.
GUITARS
Long regarded as one of the greatest guitars ever made, the Martin D-28 has been played by legends ranging from Bob Dylan and the Beatles to Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Martin’s 1937 models of the acoustic guitars are particularly prized for their rich sound and exceptional craftsmanship. This 1937 Martin D-28 natural acoustic guitar sold for $281,250 in an April 2021 Heritage auction.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Born in San Francisco in 1902, Ansel Adams began experimenting with photography when he first visited Yosemite National Park as a teenager. “Equipped with a simple Kodak Brownie camera his parents gave him in 1916,” the National Park Service notes, “the young Yosemite visitor tramped through the park’s mountains, snapping the first images of what would become a lifetime of incredible artistic productivity.” For much of his life, Adams looked to the California park as his prime source of inspiration and continued his trips there every year until his death in 1984. This 1937 photograph by Adams, titled Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, realized $47,500 in a June 2018 Heritage auction.