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Middle West regional material - Miscellaneous

 File — Box: 2
Identifier: 1-1

Scope and Content of the Collection

From the Collection:

Growing collection of printed travel and tourist ephemera, including travel brochures and automobile road maps, travel guides, museum flyers, local event calendars, hotel directories, theater programs, newspaper and magazine clippings, transportation timetables, postcards, local newsletters, and more. With some exceptions, chronological coverage spans the early 20th century through the early 21st century, though exact publication date ranges for many groups of material vary by a few years.

Mostly issued for free distribution by a variety of local and national businesses, regional commercial organizations, and government agencies. Scattered worldwide geographic coverage, but most extensive for the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Each state, province, region, and country is sorted in up to 4 broad categories, depending on abundance of material: (1) state road maps; (2) other material with statewide/countrywide coverage; (3) items with single county coverage; and (4) items issued for more local places, including towns, tourist attractions of all kinds, natural features, state and national parks, and other places. Geographic areas with limited coverage in this collection may not include all four categories. Below national and state levels, most brochures and maps are filed together by county and local place names. Material which relates to three or more counties or to a well-defined regional area (ie: the Spanish Riviera) is defined under statewide/countrywide coverage as a regional area.

Items for local tourist attractions, museums, restaurants, historic buildings, hotels, and other places are filed by town name (or nearest town name). Similarly, named transportation routes extending beyond city or county boundaries, including federal and state highways, and local or regional roads, are filed as separate places by their own names (in Illinois, examples include Interstate 55, the Illinois Tollway, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal). Materials for natural features are sorted in the same alphabetical sequence as local places, using prominently printed place names reflecting the commercial interests of their creators.

Materials for regions that cross state or country lines can be found in both state/country locations, and is dependent on prominent location listed on the item, for example Yellowstone National Park can be found in both Wyoming and Montana.

Materials relating to historical countries have been sorted by their names as printed on the material. Notes have been added to reflect the connections between historical countries and modern day equivalents (i.e.: Yugoslavia see: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia).

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The Road maps and travel ephemera collection is open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512