A Simple Book with Words Carved in Stone

In nearby Gloucester, Massachusetts, there is a simple book with words carved in stone. It’s the work of Roger Babson (1875–1967), an MIT-trained engineer who founded a financial analysis firm that made him a millionaire. He was one of the first to predict the market crash of 1929 and he founded Babson Institute (now Babson College) in Wellesley and two other colleges that aren’t local so we don’t care about them. He ran for president as the National Prohibition Party candidate in 1940, but lost to FDR and he founded the Gravity Research Foundation to find ways to counteract “Gravity — Our Enemy Number One.” He also hired unemployed quarry workers to carve inspirational slogans into stones. All that happened a long time ago. More recently, designer Erik Waxdal considered the Babson Boulders and designed a typeface—and this specimen. A fitting tribute to Babson, boulders, and Waxdal’s hometown of Gloucester.*

*It’s pronounced Glos-stir. Also, much of the above was lazily paraphrased from WBUR. But definitely google Roger Babson and the Babson Boulders. It’ll totally be worth your time.