Collection Overview:
Postcards of Motels and Roadside Attractions, 1930-1960
This collection contains nearly 130 postcards of various roadside attractions. Although the "Golden Age" of the American postcard craze was in the early twentieth century, the era of 1930s through the 1950s, with its brightly colored "linen" cards, is a rich one for images of roadside America.
Whether they were businessmen, travelers passing through, or vacationers, Americans bought postcards of the motels and restaurants they patronized as souvenirs, or mailed them to kin to demonstrate their location, talk about their travels, or inform them of an impending arrival. Postcards listed amenities such as private baths, electric fans, and even particular mattress brands, and noted American Automobile Association (AAA) affiliation.
While postcards served to advertise specific businesses and more generally, particular locations, they also helped to codify in the American mindset certain vacation destinations throughout the country and a certain gaze on the landscape. These postcards of motels, restaurants, tourist cabins, and diners reveal the services, architecture, and general landscape that widespread adoption of the automobile helped to create.
Approxiately two-thirds of this collection has been digitized. If you would like access to the items that have not been scanned, please contact us at Ask Hagley or call 302-658-2400 ext 276.
Question and Comments
Please send questions and comments to research@hagley.org or call 302-658-2400 ext 232.