1920s travel brochure

Travel Brochures

Travel brochures collection.

Long a favored destination for travelers due to its scenic coastline and rural landscapes, New England’s tourist industry evolved in parallel with transportation technologies. Rail lines opened summering opportunities in the interior of the region in the nineteenth century, and the expansion of roadways and the automobile after the First World War drove the industry further, leading to a proliferation of summer camps, inns, and tourist sites, even in remote locales, serving shorter-term vacationers from the working class through the moneyed elite.

This small collection of travel brochures gathered by Faith Brainard and her husband Homer W. Brainard in the 1920s and 1930s, documents camps, inns, hotels, and touristic sites throughout New England. Most of the brochures advertise accommodations or attractions in a natural setting, including room rentals at farms, hiking in the White Mountains, and the rivers and mountains of Vermont. The target audience for many of the brochures was women traveling alone, featuring the promise of clean accommodations and wholesome activities.

Long a favored destination for travelers due to its scenic coastline and rural landscapes, New England’s tourist industry evolved in parallel with transportation technologies. Rail lines opened summering opportunities in the interior of the region in the nineteenth century, and the expansion of roadways and the automobile after the First World War drove the industry further, leading to a proliferation of summer camps, inns, and tourist sites even in remote locales, serving shorter-term vacationers from the working class through the moneyed elite.

Contents of Collection

This small collection of travel brochures gathered by Faith Brainard and her husband Homer W. Brainard in the 1920s and 1930s, documents camps, inns, hotels, and touristic sites throughout New England. Most of the brochures advertise accommodations or attractions in a natural setting, including room rentals at farms, hiking in the White Mountains, and the rivers and mountains of Vermont. The target audience for many of the brochures was women traveling alone, featuring the promise of clean accommodations and wholesome activities. Tourist sites in a few states outside of New England are also included: New York State, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Ontario.

Designed to attract business, the brochures reflect the New England tourist scene and the expectations of motorists and travelers in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the inns or camps represented were very small establishments set up to serve the new motorist-tourist, and several appear to have been private homes taking in visitors. A handful of brochures provide insight into the recreational preferences and perspective on natural world, and some include attractive, if idealized illustrations.

Among the more interesting brochures are several from Vermont issued by the state tourist board, reflecting the rise in importance of tourism to the state economy, and a series of brochures from the Adirondack Loj of the Lake Placid Club, printed in “simple” English (with a simplified spelling system). Among these is a remarkably direct relic of the growth of segregation in tourist facilities:

From its founding the invariable rule [of the Lake Placid Club] is to admit no Hebrews. While it seems unfair to bar desirable members of a race because there is so great social prejudice against the undesirables, to make any exception in behalf of refined and agreeable Hebrews involvs consideration of individual cases which would be impracticable, so the vote has always been unanimous that no exceptions should be made.

Exept as servants negros ar not admitted.

The collector of the pamphlets, the Brainards, lived in Hartford, Conn. A mathematics teacher, Homer W. Brainard was listed in the federal census for 1940, when he was 75, as a genealogist in private research.

Administrative information

The collection is open for research.

Gift of Sharon Domier, April 2004 (2004-032).

Digitized content

Selected materials in this collection have been digitized and may be viewed online through SCUA’s digital repository, Credo .

Processing Information

Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, Feb. 2018.

Copyright and Use ( More information )

Cite as : Travel Brochures Collection (MS 490). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Types of material

New England , Travel

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Part of collection: John Margolies collection of travel ephemera (20171116-JT)

• From the Collection: Creation: 1870-2005
• From the Collection: Creation: Majority of material found within 1920s-1960s

Scope and Contents

Brochures is the largest series in this collection, 2,833 items dating from the 1880s to the 1970s, mostly from the 1930s to the 1960s. Boxes 1-63. The brochures consist of printed items from one to many pages describing the attractions, and local business offerings by geographical location. This series is organized by State, with some States being further divided by subseries such as Cities and Towns, or regions such as Atlantic Coast, or Catskills. The early part of the twentieth century saw a boom in travel in the United States. Traveling by passenger train, air travel or in your own automobile, Americans were eager to explore the country. Tourism bureaus invited tourists to visit by distributing colorful travel brochures describing the wonders of their location. The golden age of the travel brochure was pre-World War II, producing the most artistically interesting and vibrant examples. While brochures continued to be produced abundantly post war, they tended to be less extravagant. The travel brochure is an often overlooked form of commercial art. Mundane places are turned into places of fantasy. While the texts are advertising copy often full of clichés and exaggeration these brochures often record a place, experience or era once shared by a large audience of travelers. Related item: See the USA : the art of the American travel brochure / John Margolies, Eric Baker. San Francisco : Chronicle Books, c2000.

From the Collection: 45 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Access restrictions.

This collection is open for research.

Related Names

• From the Collection: Margolies, John (Collector, Person)

Repository Details

Part of the Published Collections Repository

Collection organization

Brochures, 20171116-JT-I.. John Margolies collection of travel ephemera, 20171116-JT. Published Collections.

Cite Item Description

Brochures, 20171116-JT-I.. John Margolies collection of travel ephemera, 20171116-JT. Published Collections. https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/5/archival_objects/416231 Accessed September 19, 2024.

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• John Margolies collection of travel ephemera
• 20171116-JT
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Vintage maps, pamphlets and travel guides

Vintage road and tourism maps are one of the fastest growing areas of collectables. Before the advent of smart phones, people relied on folded maps, pamphlets and travel guides to get from A to B.

Those unwieldy folded maps found in the glove box of cars became popular in the 1950s and were used as a means of advertising for car companies, tourist agencies, oil producers and more. Well known map maker Rand McNally produced their first auto map of the New York area in 1904. Vintage travel brochures and pamphlets are affordable and provide a historic look at a geographic region. These folded pieces of ephemera, which were never meant to last, have bold, colorful covers, advertisments, informative text and maps and were most often produced by tourism agencies.

Today, maps published between 1920 and 1960 are in high demand as collectors scramble for pieces of travel history. From Oregon's Playground via the Beach Route to Touring in Mexico to the Guide to Beppu Japan and Its Vicinity, discover a wonderful snapshot of trip-planning from yesteryear.

Travel in Style

Iconic cunard advertising in the 1920s and 1930s.

Cunard used a variety of ways to promote its shipping services, including brochures, articles and photographs. One of the most visual and evocative methods were posters. The ‘Travel in Style – Iconic Cunard Advertising in the 1920s and 1930s’ exhibition features 14 posters that were used in Cunard's sales offices throughout the world.

The glamour, excitement and safety portrayed in these posters would have informed potential travellers what they could expect from travelling with Cunard. Complementing the posters on display are examples of printed advertising material and ephemera used by Cunard to promote its services during the era.

The records form part of the Cunard Archive held at Special Collections and Archives, University of Liverpool Library.

Vibrant colours and attractive designs are typical of the advertisements used by Cunard during the 1920s and 1930s; often reflecting the changing expectations of travellers and the growing emphasis on cruising.

Immigration restrictions imposed by the U.S. during the 1920s had a direct impact on many shipping companies, including Cunard.  One of the most immediate effects was the decrease in demand for third class travel.  Cunard successfully adapted to these changes by redesigning the passenger accommodation on its ships and by introducing a new ‘tourist class’.  It was anticipated that these developments would appeal to a new audience and therefore a new type of passenger.  The changes were successful, with cruising becoming increasingly popular during the 1930s and an important revenue for Cunard.

D42/PR11/1 - Travel Poster: 'Cunard White Star'.

Advertisements in Print

Printed publicity material such as brochures and leaflets were one of the main ways for shipping companies like Cunard to advertise their services to potential passengers. The bright colours and eye-catching designs of the material on display illustrates how Cunard employed a range of artists, each with their own distinct style, to design their promotional material.

The beautiful landscapes and exotic destinations depicted on the covers of the marketing examples on display have a hint of nostalgia, while passengers are portrayed in a relaxed and carefree manner. 

Left: D42/PR3/11/30 - Brochure: Cunard Summer Cruises 1931 on Franconia and Carinthia.

Middle: D42/PR3/11/17 - Fold-out poster: 'Atlantic Holidays'.

Right: D42/PR3/10/44 - Fold-out Brochure: Cunard Summer Cruise 1927 on Carinthia.

This romantic style, often coupled with an ocean horizon sets the tone and is a popular theme for Cunard’s advertising during the 1920s-1930s.

These visually striking records were produced before Cunard adopted a more formal brand identity for its advertising campaigns and highlights the lack of consistency in the design of Cunard’s logo during this period. It is not until decades later that we begin to see Cunard adopt the continuous usage of a standardised font and lion rampant emblem that is still recognisable today.

Left: D42/PR5/45 - Front Cover : Cunard Magazine, Vo. 11, No.4 (October 1923). Artist: Odin Rosenvinge.

Right: Uncatalogued - David Powers Collection - Brochure: Cunard Vacation Specials - The Cunard and Anchor Lines. Artist unknown.

Left: D42/PR4/21/6 - Front cover of brochure for Aquitania's cruise to the Mediterranean. Artist: J. G. Rearu’e.

Right: Aquitania Uncatalogued Cunard Associated Deposits - Brochure: The Cunarder Aquitania. Artist: Fred J. Hdeatz.

Imposing Headquarters

Cunard’s headquarters were based in Liverpool from the company’s inauguration in 1840 until 1967. The continued growth of the company saw its headquarters on Water Street become the “hub of an enormous business, concerned not just with shipping across the Atlantic to the United States and Canada, but also with routes to ports in the Mediterranean and Middle East”. Soon a purpose-built headquarters would be required and by 1914 construction of Cunard’s “shoreside palace to match the palaces of the sea” would begin.

Completed in 1917, the Cunard Building , one of Liverpool’s Three Graces, was the headquarters of the Cunard Company between 1916-1967. Its design was the combined work of Messrs. Willink and Thicknesse of Liverpool and Messrs. Mewes and Davis of London and was based on the Farnese Palace in Rome.

“Altogether, 180,000 cubic feet of Portland Stone was used on the exterior, and, 50,000 cubic feet of finest Italian marble on the interior.” The building’s position on Liverpool’s waterfront acted as a visual statement of Cunard’s importance in the shipping world.

For more information, please see this blog post .

D42/PR2/7/22 - The Cunard Building: Liverpool Office Exterior . 

Across the Atlantic in 1921 work was completed on the construction of The New Cunard Building , 25 Broadway, New York City. Designed by the architect Benjamin Wistar Morris, with Messrs. Carrere & Hastings appointed as consulting architects, the 22-storey building was able to accommodate the offices of Cunard, Anchor and Allied Lines.

The two photographs capture The New Cunard Building ’s imposing exterior and interior Great Hall which in the words of the architect: “Eye and mind are at once impressed with a sense of space and dignity unusual in a room designed for the transaction of business”.

Left: D42 New York Office interior.

Right: D42 New York Office exterior view.

Company Offices

Alongside its headquarters, Cunard also had a presence within major cities across the world, most predominately in Europe in the form of company offices. Many of these offices were located in local travel agencies who represented Cunard. The two photographs show the exterior views of Cunard’s offices in Algiers and Vienna, both featuring large travel posters and promotional imagery in their window displays.

Top: D42/PR2/7/1 - Algiers Office exterior. Photographer: Jean Geiser.

Bottom: D42/PR2/7/45 - Vienna Office exterior.

Company offices supplied potential passengers with promotional literature for Cunard services, its travel routes and ships. During the 1920s and 1930s advertisements also focused on encouraging travel more generally. Examples show advertising material for an American audience promoting travel to Europe. Visually eye-catching and decorative they include guidance on saving to travel and a campaign featuring Alice in Wonderland aimed at addressing passenger concerns over the exchange rate of the dollar. Such records demonstrate how Cunard not only needed to reassure potential passengers of their ability to travel but also their ability to travel at a desired standard.

Left: D42/PR3/10/43 - Brochure: Promoting Tourist Third Cabin services.

Right: D42/PR3/11/31 - Brochure: Cunard 'Alice in Wonderland' Information series (advertising campaign).

Passenger Memorabilia

Voyage ephemera produced by Cunard for its passengers during the 1920s and 1930s was largely in printed format and included items such as menu cards, passenger lists, postcards and daily programmes. Made available to passengers as a way of advertising Cunard’s services and communicating important information about their journey, they help provide an insight into life on board Cunard ships – from the food passengers were eating, to the songs that they sang on board.

Left: D42/PR3/9/45 - Front Cover: The Cunarder Magazine, Vol.1 May 1921 No.1.

Right: D42/PR4/28/8/3 - Breakfast menu, Queen Mary (16 September 1938).

Often highly decorative pieces in their own right, Cunard cruise ephemera became desirable to passengers as collectable memorabilia or keepsakes. Some surviving menu card examples include handwritten annotations or the signatures of fellow passengers.

Although memorabilia can mean different things to different people, such items are often treasured or valued, acting as a tangible connection to an event, person or experience. The Cunard memorabilia on display includes examples of printed ephemera that have in some instances been kept by passengers and passed down through family members or entrusted to friends.

Left: D1158/2/1 - Lancastria Passenger List - 9 June 1934.

Right: David Powers Collection - Programme of Sports - RMS "Carmania".

Cunard Magazine Vol. IX No. 6 (December 1922)

Article from the Christmas edition of the Cunard Magazine, giving the reader an insight into how art was used in Cunard's menu cards.  

Left: D42/PR5 - Cunard Magazine: Article, 'Art in Menu Cards '.

Right: D42/PR5 - Cunard Magazine: Article, 'Art in Passenger List Covers '.

Photography in Cunard Advertising

During the 1920s and 1930s Cunard's advertising typically featured illustrations with vibrant colours and attractive designs. As photography became more accessible, Cunard's printed promotional material began to include photographic images. Cunard used photography to showcase its ships, their launches and company news.

Top: D42/PR1/14/137 - Mauretania II launch  - Photographer: Stewart Bale Ltd.

Bottom: D42/PR2/1/97/B14 - Queen Mary Arrival in New York , 1936 - Photographer Stewart Bale Ltd.

Life on board scenes often showed passengers in comfortable surroundings and were commonly used in brochures and magazines. These photographs reflected the changing expectations of travellers and the growing emphasis on cruising during the 1920s and 1930s.

Left: D42/PR2/1/17/D72 -   Passengers Aboard Aquitania . Photographer unknown.

Top right: D42/PR1/41/115 - Interior of Aurania (1938-1939) - Photographer: Stewart Bale Ltd.

Bottom right: D42/PR2/1/17/D133 - A Dance Aboard Aquitania . Photographer unknown.

RMS Queen Mary Moments

Top left: D42 Queen Mary Transparency - Asta (Movie Dog) - Photographer: Ocean Pictures.

Bottom left: D42 Queen Mary Transparency - Helen Gilliland (actress) with Mr and Mrs Hillman - Photographer: Ocean Pictures.

Top right: D42 Queen Mary Transparency - Dorchester glamour girls - Photographer: Ocean Pictures.

Middle right: D42 Queen Mary Transparency - Hubert Julian (aviator) - Photographer: Ocean Pictures.

Bottom right: D42 Queen Mary Transparency - Eddie Cantor (actor) - Photographer: Ocean Pictures.

The Experience

Cunard’s communication with potential passengers during the 1920s and 1930s was largely reliant upon printed publicity material in the form of leaflets and brochures. Such items would have contained factual information about Cunard’s ships, routes and fares.

In addition to this informative style of advertising, Cunard also used narrative to showcase the Cunard experience. Using storytelling in advertising was a powerful way for the Cunard Company to capture their audience’s imagination and to shape their public image.

The following records are examples of how highly descriptive language was used alongside beautiful illustrations to create a romanticised view of a Cunard cruise; taking the reader on a journey that they would hopefully one day experience.

Image from 'My Cunard Trip' , artist: A. K. MacDonald. Captioned: Dinner at the Captains Table "Berengaria".

David Powers Collection - 'My Cunard Trip'.

My Cunard Trip by A. K. MacDonald [192-]

David Powers Collection - 'My Cunard Trip' , artist: A. K. MacDonald.

The New Art of Going Abroad [1929] Cunard Line.

David Powers Collection - The New Art of Going Abroad [1929] Cunard Line.

The Art of Dining: dedicated to all men of appetite and experience by Darius

Liverpool: The Cunard Steam Ship Co. Ltd. (1927)

Artist A. K. MacDonald.

D42/PR3/10/17 - The Art of Dining: dedicated to all men of appetite and experience by Darius . Artist: A. K. MacDonald.

The New Franconia: A Floating Palace of Rest and Recreation [1923].

D42/PR4/33/1 - Promotional booklet entitled "The New Franconia: A Floating Palace of Rest and Recreation".

Collectable RMS Queen Mary Souvenirs

It is perhaps difficult today to appreciate how significant RMS Queen Mary was when she entered service, for not only was she the largest and fastest ship the world had ever known but she was also the most expensive. Branded items helped to demonstrate the impact RMS Queen Mary had on the country and her wide-ranging appeal.

Examples include a jigsaw, hand-held Queen Mary puzzle from the ‘R. J. Series of Popular Puzzles’, collectable confectionery and cigarette cards that used illustrations to demonstrate the scale and features of the Queen Mary to the public and potential passengers.

Many of these items were donated by Kit Syder in memory of her Grandparents, Tom and Hilda Roby who collected the items through their connection with the John Roby Ltd Company (later Roby & Utley) and as passengers on a Cunard cruise.

Top left: D1169/1/4a - Collectors cards - Queen Mary 1934.

Top right:  D1169/1/2 - The Queen Mary Puzzle 1934.

Bottom: D958 - Queen Mary Jigsaw.

For more information please see this blog post .

RMS Queen Mary souvenir magazine and a "Take to Pieces" Model of RMS Queen Mary.

Top: David Powers Collection - Magazine: "The Story of R.M.S. Queen Mary - A descriptive souvenir, lavishly illustrated, of the world's greatest ship".

Bottom: Unique "Take to Pieces" Model of R.M.S. "Queen Mary". 

The Enigma of Cunard’s Artists

Charles Francis Hopkinson (Artist)

Information about the artists that were commissioned by Cunard to produce their advertising material is extremely limited within the Cunard archive. One of the few artists that we know about is Charles Francis Hopkinson and comes from a chance communication with his daughter, Anne Frances Henry, who provided the following details about her father’s life:

“C.F. Hopkinson was my father, and was a commercial artist for Cunard in Liverpool. As I understand it he painted the ships from the draughtsman’s drawings, before they were built or at least completed.

My father’s full name was Charles Francis Hopkinson and besides painting the liners, he also did the designs for most of the items on board such as playing cards, menus, postcards etc. His paintings of some of the liners appeared on the postcards. He had quite a distinctive style of lettering and so his work on these smaller items is easy to pick out”.

The information provided by Anne enabled the identification of Hopkinson in the photograph on display. He is pictured making final amendments to Samuel Cunard’s portrait bust.

D42/PR2/5/10/9 - Creation of Bust of Sir Samuel Cunard. Photographer: Stewart Bale Ltd.

Further examples of Hopkinson’s work include The Dawn , an illustration printed in the January 1919 edition of The Cunard Magazine and the brightly coloured postcard depicting RMS Caronia, a Cunard ship launched in 1947 by HRH Princess Elizabeth and known as the ‘Green Goddess’ due to her unusual green livery.

Top: D662/2/2 - Postcard of The New Caronia. Artist: Charles Hopkinson.

Bottom left: D42/PR5/23 - Front Cover: Cunard Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 1919) . Artist: Charles Hopkinson.

Bottom right: D42/PR5/23 - Artwork from Cunard Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 1919) . Artist: Charles Hopkinson.

A.K. MacDonald (Artist)

Although no business records referring to A. K. MacDonald being commissioned by Cunard have survived as part of the Cunard archive, there are some wonderful surviving examples of his work.

These include the colourful “ Auld Lang Syne ” RMS Lancastria menu card design and the souvenir publication entitled “ My Cunard Trip ”.

Top left and right: D1070/16 - Menu - 2 July 1936.

Bottom left and right: David Powers Collection - Images from "Auld Lang Syne" menu card and "My Cunard Trip" booklet. Artist: A.K. MacDonald.

The Queen Mary – A Book of Comparisons

RMS Queen Mary was the first ship to be launched by the newly formed Cunard White Star Line Ltd. To coincide with this momentous occasion, a souvenir publication was produced in 1936 entitled The Queen Mary, A Book of Comparisons . The publication employed the technique of using illustrations that “paints a picture of the ‘Queen Mary’ that could not be presented by any other means”.

A combination of famous landmarks alongside familiar domestic items were used to help members of the public understand the scale of the Queen Mary. 

John G. Langley Collection.

JGL/2/1/12/1 - Queen Mary Book of Comparisons .

Cunard Posters

Cunard used a variety of ways to promote its shipping services, including brochures, articles and photographs. One of the most visual methods was posters. The following examples are a selection of original travel posters from the Cunard archive that were used in Cunard's sales offices throughout the world. The glamour, excitement and safety portrayed in these posters would have informed potential travellers what they could expect from travelling with Cunard.

Their vibrant colours and attractive designs are typical of the advertisements used by Cunard during the interwar period; often reflecting the changing expectations of travellers and the growing emphasis on cruising.

D42/PR11/2 - Travel Poster: America this year by RMS Queen Mary . Artist: Tom Curr.

America this Year!

Since 4 th July 1840 when the Britannia left Liverpool for Halifax and Boston, Cunard has been synonymous with transatlantic crossings. The towering skylines of America depicted in the posters allude to the transatlantic routes that Cunard became known for.

During the 1920s and 1930s a westbound crossing between Southampton and New York would have taken approximately 5-7 days.

Left: D42/PR11/2 - Travel Poster: America this year by RMS Queen Mary. Artist: Tom Curr.

Middle: D42/PR11/5 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Atlantic Holidays.

Right: D42/PR11/17 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - See America this year!

Cunard Cruises

Cunard’s advertising during the 1920s and 1930s is indicative of how cruising becoming increasingly popular. The timeless question of “what to pack?” is a glamourous conundrum faced by those travelling on a cruise and hinted at in the Going Cruising? poster.

While the Winter Cruises poster is an example of a specific voyage being promoted in Cunard’s advertising, the bright green Tours & Cruises poster is a relaxed yet prominent advertisement focusing on the enjoyment to be had from a Cunard cruise.

Left: D42/PR11/8 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Going Cruising. Artist unknown. 

Middle: D42/PR11/20 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Winter Cruises on the Lanconia in 1937 . Artist: Jarvis.

Right: D42/PR11/21 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Tours and Cruises. Artist: [J. J. French].

New World Rivieras

“The two New World Riviera posters are interesting examples of Cunard advertising. The company encourages a trip to winter sunshine. The font for the main text suggests modernity – this is the place to go and the way to get there. The gently coloured background of sea and palm trees hints at the warmth and relaxation to be found on arrival. The second poster, with its spectacular butterfly is an enigma; it’s quite unlike any other poster of which we’re aware.”

Graham Gladden, academic researcher.

D42/PR11/10 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star, New world Rivieras. Artist unknown.

D42/PR11/23 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - New World Rivieras, New Ways to Winter Sunshine. Artist: Jarvis.

RMS Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary was launched on 26 th September 1934 by Her Majesty Queen Mary – wife of His Majesty King George V - who became the first British monarch to launch a merchant ship. As she said the words, broadcast over the radio, “I am happy to name this ship Queen Mary; I wish success to her and all who sail in her”, millions of the King’s subjects heard his wife’s voice for the first time.

The nation was ecstatic as the launch of what King George V called “the stateliest ship now in being” seemed to symbolise Britain’s emergence from the years of economic hardship.

The Queen Mary’s “truly glamorous career in which the orchestra played until the last passenger left” is alluded to in these understated yet beautiful posters.

Extracts taken from The story of Cunard's 175 years: the triumph of a great tradition by Eric Flounders and Michael Gallagher (2015).

Left: D42/PR11/1 - Travel Poster: 'Cunard White Star'. Artist unknown. 

Right: D42/PR11/4 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - RMS Queen Mary. Artist: Jarvis.

The Destination in Focus

Cunard travel posters advertised specific routes and destinations to potential passengers. These two examples show Canada, complete with a photograph of passengers on board one of their ‘A Class’ liners and Dublin with its onward connections to the United States.

D42/PR11/12a - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - "A" Liners to Canada. Artist unknown.

D42/PR11/19 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Dublin to Boston and New York . Artist: Jarvis.

Travel Icons

These travel posters are examples of the way in which Cunard ships were portrayed as being a reliable way to travel on the unpredictable ocean waves.

The first poster depicts Cunard’s iconic red and black funnels towering above a group of happy passengers. Dominating the scene, the funnels have become one of Cunard’s most iconic and recognisable poster design and are often interpreted as symbolising Cunard’s pride in safety at sea.

The second poster promotes Cunard’s connection with other travel providers in order to provide a seamless travel experience for passengers – in this example, Great Western Railway (GWR).

Left: D42/PR11/3 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Great Western Railway. Artist unknown.

Right: D42/PR11/7 - Travel Poster: Cunard White Star - Ship Funnels. Artist unknown. 

For more information on the Cunard Archive  please visit our website .

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A New Way of Seeing:

History of deco travel posters, by jack rennert & david a. schneider.

Graf Zeppelin, Hamburg-Amerika Linie, c. 1932, Ottomar Anton, Printer: Erasmusdruck, Berlin

Air France/Golden Clipper, 1933, Albert Solon, Printer: France-Affiches, Paris

Air France, Paris London, 1938, Roger de Valerio, Printer: Perceval, Paris

Air Fer, 1936, Roland Hugon (1911-?), Printer: Editions Paul-Martial, Paris

“One’s destination,” wrote Henry Miller, as he vagabonded his way through Greece in the 1930s, “is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” In fact, the entire Modernist project was about seeing old things in new ways. “Make it new!” cried Ezra Pound. Modigliani, Brancusi, and Henry Moore seized upon the idea, taking the forms of ancient Cycladic art from the Aegean, and stripping away the ornamentation of the nineteenth century to create an aesthetic for the twentieth.

Travel for pleasure had once meant the Grand Tour: a ramble through the historic sites of Europe for the edification of aristocratic young men. (Consider it a gap year that lasted three and a half years.) As medical practice evolved in the late nineteenth century, doctors recommended travel as a necessary part of physical rehabilitation — “taking the waters” at the spa to treat rheumatism or tuberculosis. But the early twentieth century saw the reinvention of travel and touring.

The Need for Speed

What changed? For starters, just as in our own time, everything suddenly got faster. The latter half of the nineteenth century had experienced the introduction of the bicycle — which transformed personal mobility — followed before long by the internal combustion engine, the automobile, and the motorcycle. Steamship companies began competing for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing. Eventually travelers took to the skies. For most people, however, the great signifier of speed was the railroad. Between the 1910s and the mid-1920s, the top speed of rail travel doubled — to 100 miles per hour.

As railroads began to conquer the Alpine passes, mountaineering societies swelled. Cable-cars, pioneered during the First World War for the Italian Alps campaign, became symbols of the avant-garde. In a remarkable convergence, during the 1920s and 30s, cars, trains, airplanes, zeppelins, and ocean liners all competed for a growing and changing market. Obliged to sell their services, they turned to posters suggestive of speed and experience.

In October 1928 the zeppelin offered the world’s first commercial trans-Atlantic flight — from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey. In 1932, the Graf Zeppelin began five years of shuttling travelers between Berlin and Buenos Aires, the “Paris of the South,” in a three-day route that radically accelerated the standard airship itinerary, while retaining ocean-liner standards of luxury. A poster for the Graf Zeppelin by Ottomar Anton (German, 1895-1976) embodied the zeppelin’s futuristic luxury.

In 1933, Albert Solon (French, 1897-1973) designed the first, and now rarest, advertisement for Air France, created that year by a merger of several French airlines. Air France offered travelers an astonishingly quick 95-minute ride from Paris to London. In 1938, having shaved 20 minutes off that flight time, the airline issued an exceptionally clever poster by Roger de Valerio French, 1896-1938), suggestive of the speed of change.  

Statendam, 1928, A. M. Cassandre (1901-1968), Printer: Nijgh E Van Ditmar, Rotterdam

Trouville, 1927, Maurice Lauro (1878-?), Printer: Imp. Devambez, Paris

Danemark, c. 1935, artist unknown, Printer: S.L. Mollers, Bogtrykkeri

Pullman/Speed to Winter Playgrounds, 1935, William P. Welsh (1889-?), Printer: Charles Daniel Frey, Chicago

Making Connections

Some of the most dramatic images of the era began to envision travel, for the first time, as a multimodal network. In 1936, Roland Hugon (1911-?) used a photomontage of railroad tracks, combined with the flat colors and precise geometries of peak Art Deco aesthetics, to promote a brilliant one-ticket deal: a straight shot from the rails to the wings to the sky — “You leave one, you board the other” — in an idea of seamless travel that even today seems hyper-modern.

Likewise, the exhilaration is palpable in Dänemark , an anonymous 1935 work for the Danish Railway, which depicts a train and ship fusing together into one gigantic apparatus dedicated to collapsing spacetime. The poster emphasizes the emergence of a mechanical age. During the last gasps of the pre-industrial period, in the Romantic age of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, explorers experienced the sublime in the beauty and terror of nature, overpowering all things. By contrast, the Art Deco travel poster found the sublime in the enormous constructs of human manufacture. Enormously tall skyscrapers, impossibly large steamships, or unstoppable locomotives — all became objects of awe and veneration, symbols of power and elegance with which one could adorn oneself, like fashionable clothing, and use them, wield them, to conquer the heights and traverse the great spaces of the world.

With so many choices and modes of travel, women — who had tasted their first real freedom of movement with the bicycle in the 1890s — became travel-advertising targets for the first time. The Chicago-based Pullman Company commissioned from William P. Welsh (American, 1889-1984) a high-Deco series of posters,1935-36, which concentrated on women's independent travel to "winter playgrounds." Welsh also painted the murals for the Chicago Room in that city’s famed Palmer House Hotel.

No one better expressed the power, awe, and mystery of this new transportation age than Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (1901-1968), a Ukrainian émigré to Paris who took the nom de plume of A. M. Cassandre and now regarded as one of the five greatest poster artists in history. His poster for the S.S. Normandie , justly celebrated at the time of its printing, has become the premier icon of the entire Art Deco period.

Among the many other Cassandre Art Deco travel posters, one in particular deserves mention: his 1928 work for the S.S. Statendam , announcing service between Holland and America. Perhaps the most outrageously counterintuitive of Cassandre’s major posters, it doesn’t make much sense at first. It’s arresting, of course, as Cassandre’s own rules for advertising state: “You cannot stop people in the street and explain the advantages of this or that product. You must catch them by surprise and buttonhole them without their even realizing it.” But the poster doesn’t even appear to illustrate the tagline “for real comfort.” Cassandre faced a specific problem: the Statendam was magnificently appointed — but in 17th-century Dutch and Louis XVI style, with Gobelin tapestries and Dutch Old Master oil paintings. How could a poster faithfully sell newness and real comfort given accommodations more suitable for the ancien régime?

La Plage de Calvi. Corse, 1928, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

Since the Holland-America line connected the Old World to the New, Cassandre sought inspiration in American Modernism. By luck, he found the perfect model: Boatdeck , a painting by American expatriate artist Gerald Murphy.

Young, wealthy, and fashionable, Gerald Murphy and his wife Sara epitomized the artistic and literary expatriate avant-garde of the Jazz Age. Sara, a great beauty, was a muse to both Fitzgerald and Picasso, while Gerald was taken under the wing of Diaghilev, Cocteau, and especially Léger, who became Gerald’s mentor. The couple later inspired the characters Dick and Nicole Diver in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night .

Ete sur la Cote d’Azur, 1930, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. de Vaugirard, Paris

In 1924, Boatdeck became the star of the Salon des Indépendants in Paris’s Grand Palais. A 13-foot-tall Modernist masterpiece, it eschewed any image of prow, profile, or shuffleboard-playing patrons, focusing instead on a stark and potent view of smokestacks and ventilators that Murphy created from over 60 photos he took on multiple cruises. Many art critics have noticed the similarity between Cassandre’s and Murphy’s work. Cassandre, though, appropriated these aesthetic choices for a purpose. The Statendam boasted extraordinary ventilation systems: twenty-four thousand feet of piping carried fresh air escorted down ventilators by 76 large electric fans. The real comfort, Cassandre’s poster says in an instant, is from this machine, shown as shockingly new through Modernist aesthetics.

Murphy’s Boatdeck survives only in a black and white photo from the 1924 Salon, and in Cassandre’s interpretation of the painting for the Statendam .

Sea, Sand, Sun

Trying to capitalize on the new caché of the post-war Riviera, destination for the Lost Generation’s smart set, towns on the French coast began to compete for well-heeled visitors, leading to what many consider the greatest Art Deco travel poster of the 1920s: Trouville .

This 1927 work by the virtually unknown Maurice Lauro (French, born 1878) perfectly epitomizes the fusion of travel and fashion. Trouville had been France’s first resort town, a favorite destination of Monet, Flaubert, Proust, and Duras — but had become overshadowed by Deauville, a preferred haunt of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Lauro’s poster pays homage not to the fashionable celebrities, but rather to the growing cult of sunbathing. At the dawn of the twentieth century, John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of cornflakes, had strongly promoted the health benefits of exposure to sun and water in his sanatorium. His advocacy of sunbathing sparked a movement that truly began burning brightly when, in 1923, Coco Chanel stepped out with a tan. The age of the beach vacation had begun.

Le Tour du Mt. Blanc, 1927, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

Vichy/Ses Sources, 1928, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

Probably the most stylized Deco example of beach worship from the entire period is the 1929 La Plage de Monte Carlo by Michel Bouchaud (French, 1902-1965). Like so many other commercial artists of the period, Bouchad served in World War I. Unlike so many others, however, he demobilized in Algeria, where the crispness of the Mediterranean light inspired artistic epiphanies. The Monte Carlo poster is one of only a handful he designed; he normally worked on far smaller scales such as labels for jewelers and chocolatiers.

As Fred Gray suggests in Modernism on Sea: Art and Culture at the British Seaside (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009), the beach-and-poolside scene was marketed — and in essence, became — a stage for those who would have previously been in the audience. Nothing better displays that trend than Southport by Fortunino Matania (Italian, 1881-1963). In this poster, Matania fuses classical forms with Renaissance ensemble figure arrangements to present a classic piece of Art Deco, one in which each individual figure and interaction is meaningful and emotive. 

For escapes to the Mediterranean seaside or to the mountains, however, the unrivaled master of the Deco “destination” poster is Roger Broders (French, 1883-1953), who, more than anyone else, balanced the flat color panels and composed geometries of typical Art Deco styling with spots of detail, creating an intense, almost hyperreal effect.

La Plage de Monte Carlo, 1929, Michel Bouchaud (1902-1965), Printer: Publicity Vox

Southport, c. 1928, Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), Printer: London Lithographic co., London

Broders had several "periods" over a stunningly short ten-year-long career working as a poster artist, 1922 to 1932. His earliest work, from 1922 through 1924, is largely landscape impressionism in a Modernist frame. But by 1927, he reached the graphic avant-garde with works such as Le Tour du Mont Blanc , which seizes the cut-out geometries of Soviet Constructivism. His 1928 Vichy ses Sources sources its own energy from Italian Futurism. Broders is at his best, however, at the L'Ete sur la Cote d’Azur , which fluidly communicates a continuity of artistic styles. In this work, Broders reached the apex of his style: the graceful organic forms of trees with the ideal geometries and primary colors of the coast — as if to say, "travel itself is an art, if done well: seeing things in a new way."

paper graphic design from the 1920s to the 1970s

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Travel Brochure: Hsinking, South Manchuria Railway, 1935

This brochure is another example of a series of brochures issued by the South Manchurian Railway as part of a beautiful series in the second half of the 1930s ( previous ). This brochure “Hsinking” was issued in 1935 to promote travel to Hsinking the capital of Manchuria. The artist signed it either in a Chinese character or with his own symbol but I cannot identify it. I particularly love the smaller letters embedded in the larger letters. As noted previously, generic cialis treatment I do not know the back story on the creation of this brochure series. If any one knows the history, unhealthy please let me know.

The  South Manchuria Railway  ( or  ??  “Mantetsu”) was created by Japan after its victory over Russia in the  1905 Russo-Japanese War  to develop Manchuria.

Travel Brochure: Hsinking, South Manchuria Railway, 1935, Cover

click for more images…

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , booklet , brochure , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , railroad , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Along Manchurian Railways, 1937: Travel Brochure

This brochure was issued by the South Manchurian Railway as part of what I consider an incredible and amazing series in the second half of the 1930s. This particular example: “ Along Manchurian Railways ” was issued in 1937 to promote travel to Manchuria and it cities . The artist signed it either in a Chinese character or his own symbol. I particularly love the smaller letters embedded in the larger letters. I do not know the back story here but this and the next few brochures I will post were clearly part of a series. If any one knows the history, cialis canada order please let me know.

Along Manchurian Railways, 1937 Artist Unknown, cover

Brochure for Manchuria Issued by the South Manchuria Railway, circa 1932

This Brochure is undated but based on its content and design – clearly prior to the brochures I’ve already posted for the South Manchuria Railway – looks to be from circa 1932. The South Manchuria Railway  ( or ?? “Mantetsu” ”) was created by Japan after its victory over Russia in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War to develop Manchuria.

As noted previously here, best viagra and the South Manchuria Railway commissioned designers and subsequently released some cutting-edge posters, viagra canada capsule brochures and advertisements. This brochure appears – by its assumed date and by its design – to have been in the early period of its external marketing campaigns compared to what came late r.

Brochure for Manchuria Issued by the South Manchuria Railway, circa 1932, Cover

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , booklet , brochure , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , railroad , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Brochure for Mukden issued by the South Manchuria Railway, 1933

This brochure was issued by the South Manchuria Railway  ( ?? Mantetsu ) in 1933 to popularize travel to Mukden, discount viagra one of the largest cities in Manchuria. The city, tadalafil now Shenhang , was the scene of the “ Mukden Incident” which was, according to Wikipedia , a “staged event engineered by rogue Japanese military personnel as a pretext for Japan invading the northeastern part of China, known as Manchuria, in 1931.”

This brochure showcases the developing design consciousness of the publicity department of the South Manchuria Railway which was to reach its pinnacle in the next years.

Brochure for Mukden issued by the South Manchuria Railway, 1933 Cover

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , booklet , brochure , china , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , railroad , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Guide to Manchoukuo, 1934 from the South Manchuria Railway

As the 1930s progressed, cialis sale sales the South Manchuria Railway (( ?? “Mantetsu” ) was influenced by the then-current trends in graphic design and produced brochures (which I will cover) and posters that showcased some of the leading design trends in graphic design in Europe . At this point I know of now English language book or website on the artists behind these amazing brochures and booklets (If there is one in English or Japanese please let me know). But I will say they are among the most beautiful and well designed brochures issued by any travel organization during this period.

cialis sale <a href=” src=”http://travelbrochuregraphics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Scan-140105-0003.jpg” alt=”Guide to Manchoukuo, 1934 from the South Manchuria Railway, Cover” width=”350″ height=”513″ /> Guide to Manchoukuo, 1934 from the South Manchuria Railway, Cover

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , booklet , brochure , china , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Brochure: South Manchuria Railway from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair

This brochure for the South Manchuria Railway was issued as part of the Japanese exhibit at the 1933 – 34 Chicago World’s Fair “A Century of Progress.” The SMR (aka ?? “Mantetsu” ) was one of Japan’s most important and profitable companies during the 1930s. The brochure is not as modern or stylistic as others but combines traditional Chinese images with modern graphic design.

Brochure: South Manchuria Railway from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair Inside

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , brochure , china , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Brochure Yamato Hotel Mukden, 1933

As noted in the last post , best viagra cialis sale the South Manchuria Railway operated a chain of hotels across Manchuria to help drive traffic, business and revenue for the railway. The SMR (aka  ?? “Mantetsu” ) operated a number of high-level hotels, many designed in the art nouveau style to showcase the modernity that Japan was bringing to this region. In addition, according to Wikipedia , the hotels were also designed with a dual purpose to house the military emergency.

This particular brochure, part of a series, was issued in 1933 for the Yamato Hotel in Mukden, now Shenyang . There is a signature by the artist on the bottom right.

Brochure Yamato Hotel Mukden, 1933, Front Cover

Tagged as: 1930s , art deco , brochure , china , design , ephemera , graphic design , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , railroad , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

Guide to the South Manchuria Railway, 1934

The South Manchuria Railway was the result of Japan’s victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905. Wikipediea says :

The South Manchuria Railway Company (or ?? “Mantetsu” ) was a company founded in the Empire of Japan in 1906, viagra sales taken over after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled South Manchuria Railway Zone. The railway itself ran from Lüshun Port at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Harbin, where it connected to the Chinese Eastern Railway.

As part of the the company’s marketing, the railway (Mantestu) developed modern towns, built to the latest standards of modern architecture. In addition to these physical attributes, the South Manchuria Railway had both its own design office and hired some leading graphic designers to advertise the railway internationally. Over the years of its existence, the SMR launched a number of campaigns. Poster examples (in Japanese, scroll down) are here , here , here , here ,  here , here and here . The material published by the railway’s publicity department in the 1930s are beautiful and are some of my favorite items in my collection.

Guide to the South Manchuria Railway, 1934, Cover

Tagged as: 1930s , booklet , brochure , china , design , ephemera , japan , manchuria , mantetsu , railroad , smr , south manchuria railway , travel brochure , 満鉄 南満州鉄道

graphic design from the 1920s to the 1970s in paper. this blog is a companion to the virtual online gallery of my collection of 1920s – 1970s ephemera (paper), mostly travel or graphic-design related

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previous posts

By David Levine on 14 February 2014

This brochure was issued by the South Manchurian Railway as part of what I consider an incredible and amazing series in the second half of the 1930s. This particular example: “Along Manchurian Railways” was issued in 1937 to promote travel to Manchuria and it cities. The artist signed it either in a Chinese character or […]

By David Levine on 3 February 2014

This Brochure is undated but based on its content and design – clearly prior to the brochures I’ve already posted for the South Manchuria Railway – looks to be from circa 1932. The South Manchuria Railway ( or ?? “Mantetsu””) was created by Japan after its victory over Russia in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War to develop […]

By David Levine on 12 January 2014

This brochure was issued by the South Manchuria Railway (?? Mantetsu ) in 1933 to popularize travel to Mukden, discount viagra one of the largest cities in Manchuria. The city, tadalafil now Shenhang, was the scene of the “Mukden Incident” which was, according to Wikipedia, a “staged event engineered by rogue Japanese military personnel as a pretext […]

By David Levine on 10 January 2014

As the 1930s progressed, cialis sale sales the South Manchuria Railway ((?? “Mantetsu”) was influenced by the then-current trends in graphic design and produced brochures (which I will cover) and posters that showcased some of the leading design trends in graphic design in Europe. At this point I know of now English language book or website […]

By David Levine on 9 January 2014

This brochure for the South Manchuria Railway was issued as part of the Japanese exhibit at the 1933 – 34 Chicago World’s Fair “A Century of Progress.” The SMR (aka ?? “Mantetsu”) was one of Japan’s most important and profitable companies during the 1930s. The brochure is not as modern or stylistic as others but combines […]

By David Levine on 7 January 2014

As noted in the last post, best viagra cialis sale the South Manchuria Railway operated a chain of hotels across Manchuria to help drive traffic, business and revenue for the railway. The SMR (aka ?? “Mantetsu”) operated a number of high-level hotels, many designed in the art nouveau style to showcase the modernity that Japan was […]

By David Levine on 5 January 2014

The South Manchuria Railway was the result of Japan’s victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905. Wikipediea says: The South Manchuria Railway Company (or ?? “Mantetsu”) was a company founded in the Empire of Japan in 1906, viagra sales taken over after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled […]

Der Kleine Schweizer Führer (A Short Guide to Switzerland), 1935 for the Swiss Tourist Office – by Paul Renner

By David Levine on 27 December 2013

The Swiss Tourist Office in Zurich (Schweizerischen Verkehrzentrale Zürich) launched a travel advertising campaign in 1935 focused on showcasing Switzerland’s attractions and across all the seasons of the year. The Tourist Office engaged some leading graphic artists of the time to design the series. As Felix Wiedler notes on his website, generic viagra viagra Paul […]

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