National Park Ephemera

The word ephemera derives from Greek, meaning things that are not meant to last more than a day. In ancient times the word extended to the mayfly and other short-lived insects and flowers, which lasted a day, or for a short period of time. In library and information science, the term ephemera describes the class of published single sheet or single page documents, which are meant to be thrown away after one-day use. Postcards are considered to be ephemera, even though many are saved and not thrown away. Other examples of ephemera relating to national parks include such materials as posters, brochures, booklets, calendars, advertising, trade cards, tickets, passes, decals, luggage stickers, menus, stationary, stamps, envelopes, napkins, candy boxes, packaging, receipts, and other sundry printed items.

Ephemera is collected for a number of different reasons. One reason ephemera is collected is rarity. Ephemera was not made to last a long time, and it is often rare or hard to find. Ephemera also can be collected for its graphics or designs. Some of the most valuable national park-related ephemera are posters, including railroad posters. Several railroads published posters promoting national parks from the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. Train travel to national parks was, for the most part, discontinued in the 1960s. The Northern Pacific Railroad published a series of fourteen art deco style posters circa 1928 through 1938 promoting travel on their Yellowstone Park Route from St. Paul to Tacoma. The NPRR published two posters each for Yellowstone and Mount Rainier National Parks in this series. The Union Pacific Railroad, the Burlington Railroad, and the Chicago Milwaukee Railroad also published posters for Yellowstone Park from the 1920s through the 1930s. Other railroads that created posters for national parks include the Santa Fe for Grand Canyon and Death Valley, the Great Northern for Glacier, the Union Pacific for Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, and the Redwoods. This list includes western national parks only and is not complete. There were a number of other railroads that published posters for national parks and monuments, both in the western and eastern United States.

Poster style is a definition of a style of illustration. Susan and I collect poster style postcards. Some of these postcards are actual poster designs in postcard format. Other poster style postcards were not published as posters but only as postcards. Many national park brochures published before World War II are poster style created by graphic artists. Most of the national park brochures published after World War II use photographs as illustrations.

The Golden Age of Illustration in America is the period from circa 1885 through circa 1935. A fundamental change in illustration took place circa 1935 when photographic-based images began to replace artistic images as illustrations. This was evident on magazine and brochure covers, posters, and advertisments. The technology to reproduce photographic images had advanced considerably since World War I. The process of reproducing photographs had become less expensive and photographic images began to replace original artwork as illustrations in several different types of media. Photographic-based illustrations had become the primary form of illustration by the beginning of World War II.

Many of the national park quilt blocks we offer for sale are reproductions of brochure covers and posters from the Golden Age of Illustration. Some of the finest poster artists were commissioned by the railroads to create national park posters.  The artists who created the Northern Pacific Railroad series of posters included Gustav Krollmann, Edward Brewer, and Sydney Laurence. The NPRR also reproduced a famous painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Thomas Moran for one of the posters in this series. The NPRR commissioned the German master poster artist Ludwig Hohlwein to create an early silkscreen poster of a tally-ho stagecoach titled Yellowstone-Park, circa 1910. This early poster by Hohlwein is one of the most highly sought after and valuable of all Yellowstone Park posters.

Railroad posters were often printed on soft paper and were made for temporary display in depots and railroad buildings. These posters were usually discarded after a certain period of time. We have seen examples where railroad posters were pasted on top of other posters on a board. Most of the railroad posters produced in the 1930s did not survive for one reason or another. Many of the NPRR posters we have seen that did survive are soiled or damaged. I estimate that there were not more than a thousand of the Hohlwein posters produced circa 1910 and that today there are fewer than 200 that survive. This is a survival rate of 20 percent or less. The survival rate of the art deco NPRR posters from the 1930s is much lower. We have been antique postcard and paper collectors and dealers for more than thirty-five years. I would estimate that the survival rate of this series of NPRR posters would be 5 to 10 percent at most. Some of the posters in this series are actually very rare and we know of only a few that exist.

The survival rate of postcards from the Golden Age of Postcards is estimated at less than 5 percent. The long-time dealers we have known in the postcard hobby have told us that perhaps 10 percent of the surviving postcards from the Golden Age are in very good to excellent condition. This would equal less than .5 percent of the postcards produced from this period, and I suggest this number is on the high end. If this is correct then less than ten postcards out of a hyndred that survive from the Golden Age of Postcards are in very good to excellent condition. In our experience of looking at many thousands of vintage postcards over the years, this number is optimistic.

Ephemera can provide us with a glimpse into the social history of the past. The information given, the style of illustration, the images and what they depict, how the piece was produced, and other tangible aspects offer clues to the social history when an item was produced.  An example would be early Yellowstone National Park ephemera. Yellowstone was the first park in the world, established in 1872, and transcended a number of different art movements. Yellowstone brochures from the 1870s through the turn of the century are often in the art nouveau style. Parks that were established after the Art Nouveau Movement ended, circa 1910, do not usually have illustrations in this style. The same can be said of the Arts and Craft Movement, circa 1915 through the 1920s, and the Art Deco Movement, circa 1925 through the 1930s. Ephemera from parks that were established after World War II have illustrations from the Post-Modern Style, circa 1945 through the 1960s. Parks that were established after 1935 would mostly have photographic-based images as illustrations.

Our business is based on vintage images of the national parks and monuments. We will be adding new images to our inventory each month as time permits. We will be editing and expanding the scope of this article, and the other articles posted on this web site. We plan to write articles about specific national parks. These articles will include a range of topics including artists and illustrators, photographers, and publishing companies. Each national park is different, yet they share common characteristics and influences. The perception and interpretation of national parks is shaped to a large degree by the images that are published and viewed by the general public. By looking at images of the past we can gain a better understanding and appreciation of how national parks have been percieved over the years and how they are regarded today.

If you have any questions or comments about this article or any of the other articles on our web site feel free to contact us. Thank you!

Article 1 - History of Postcards

Article 2 - National Park Postcards

Article 3 - The Detroit Publishing Company