Postcards from the archive

In our age of instant, global connectedness, the postcard is an anachronistic tool of communication. Starting in the mid-19th century, picture postcards were a popular method of correspondence, particularly for travelers wanting to update others on the status of their journey while conveying a sense of place to the recipient. The motels that lined Route 66 supplied postcards as a way to promote their business. As part of the historical archive of a community, this collection of paper ephemera shows us how people in the past were presenting themselves to outsiders. Names like Pueblo Bonito Court and Bow & Arrow Lodge show how businesses used a distorted view of Indigenous people to attract clientele while others, like El Jardin Lodge and Aztec Court, cloaked themselves in Spanish and Mesoamerican mythologies. The oxymoronic Pioneer Luxury Court emphasizes “tubs and showers” in a “homelike” and “quiet” space where “luxury costs no more”, all things an early settler would certainly not find. As such, the portrayal of place on vintage postcards is emblematic of larger tourist narratives promoted by a community to attract visitors, a practice that continues today in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Go Deeper: “Everybody Hates a Tourist” is an essay about tourism in New Mexico.

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