I am currently composing a small book covering the near-century of Southern Railway advertising. The publication will cover the roots of advertising back to the R&D in 1881, thru the "Empire of the South" industrial book, thru the "Land of the Sky" publications, up to the final passenger and pre-merger days. There is some text and photos, and interviews with the ex-SR advertising manager, but most of the book is reprinting select ads over the century. However, I am woefully short of any advertising that occured in the 1930's, and the NS archives do not have any thing from this period. Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt Bumgarner

-- Matt Bumgarner (stealthnfo@aol.com), January 02, 2000

Answers

I have an October 1938 Southern Railway System time table that contains 5 different ads: College Football Games (It's Safer to Travel by Train), "Land of the Sky" (Paradise of all Eastern America-The Great Smokies) and Florida Service 1938-39 Season (Following High-Class Trains will be operated...), The Right Location is Essential... and 4 Star Freight Service. I also suggest looking at micro-fiche copies of old newspapers. I have seen ads for various travel services (including railroads and steamships)in the classifieds of big-city newspapers. It sounds like an interesting project, good luck.

-- Albert E. Pope (aepope@worldnet.att.net), January 04, 2000.

Matt -- I have a series of black/white Southern ads that I believe appeared in National Geographic. I bought these at the monthly railroadiana show in Wheaton IL (Chicago suburb) run by GATS. I'm not sure of the dates of the ads, but I think most are 1920s or 1930s. I'll check the dates -- if they fit I'd be happy to loan them.

-- Tom Warne (twar@chevron.com), September 12, 2001.

Matt, I have very colorful advertising poster from the Southern Railway that dates back to 1938. It depicts all of London and its characters,from Buckingham Palace to Fawkes.

-- Neil DeAngelis (katnei@optonline.net), January 03, 2002.

Matt -- finally checked my ads. You're right, there aren't many ads from the 1930's. Of course, there was a depression going on and I suspect that spending money on advertisements in popular magazines wasn't a big priority. Anyway, none of my ads are from the 1930's. The ones I have are from National Geographic (1 from 1912, 4 from 1926, 5 from 1927, 3 from 1946, 1 from 1947, 2 from 1953 and 1 from 1955) Time (2 from 1947, 2 from 1951) and Traffic World (2 from 1929.)

-- Tom Warne (twar@chevron.com), January 08, 2002.

chickens are sweets

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