Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Minnesota Vacation Days







Above are three recent postcards showing vintage Minnesota maps from the 1920s. These illustrations are from the book Minnesota Vacation Days by Kathryn strand Koutsky and Linda Koutsky published by Minnesota Historical Society Press ©2006. This is a beautiful book filled with all sorts of ephemera, photos, and souvenirs related to Minnesota vacations.

Below is a spread in the book that includes the maps shown on the postcards. Below that is another spread showing more ephemera with beautiful vintage graphics.





The last spread from the book shows vintage linen vacation postcards. On the left are some packages of postcards priced at 3 for 10¢ including postage stamps!



Big fish were a popular subject on comic linen postcards aimed at vacationers. Autos were another popular subject. I will conclude with a postcard from my collection showing both subjects. This postcard was originally published by Curt Teich in 1935. Sometimes stock postcards were imprinted with specific locations. This one has Greetings from Owatonna, Minn. imprinted in the bottom border.









Visit Sepia Saturday for More Vintage Photos






18 comments:

  1. I love the colors on all of these. The first one feels like Toyland.

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  2. The colors and style are so evocative of that era, when driving was still an adventure.

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  3. Seeing those old photos makes me itch to take a road trip! I've never been to Minnesota ....

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  4. Wow, a 6 fish limit and a duck on the hood! What a card!

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  5. Of course you know I HAVE this book! and the one put out like it that's all about our dners and such other eating places! I really had fun in my own home town on your vacation theme...you and I are like great minds at work and saw the same fision (sort of) for this week's great theme! So nicely done thanks!!!!

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  6. Now to find out where Arrowhead Country is. Tomorrow I blog about Wisconsin "Indian Head" country.

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  7. What a great book. So nostalgic. My aunt and uncle had some cabins (I think in Michigan) that they rented out each summer. The book reminds me of their stories about that area.
    Nancy Javier
    http://ladiesofthegrove.blogspot.com/

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  8. What lovely images - and I love the car covered in fish! Looks a little like the car in my SS101 post :-) but more colourful! Jo

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  9. Spot on for the Sepia theme. Such talented artists to design those illustrations.

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  10. A great post of course of interest to me living here in MN...I enjoy looking through books like that Those old roadmaps are becoming quite collectible these days.

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  11. There was a flair, an exuberance, and a joy about car and motoring adverts of the day which make them like no others and so redolent of the age.

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  12. Very much on theme. The colours are so rich and vivid That book looks like a great one to pore over on a wet Saturday afternoon to lift the spirits.

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  13. Gosh, I absolutely love those illustrations. Wonderful post

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  14. So pretty and so vintage. Thanks for pulling this post together for us.

    Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful,

    Kathy M.

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  15. quite the colorful set, but what stuck most in my mind was "vacation days"...
    I need a vacation!!!
    :D~
    HUGZ

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