Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1328

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.1 linear feet ((1 volume))

Preferred Citation:

Dorothy Meyer travel scrapbook, 1940 July 28-August 4, Ms. Coll. 1328, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1940 july 28-august 4 (inclusive)

Creator:

Buege, Dorothy M.

Form:

Postcards, Scrapbooks, Memorabilia, and Photographs

Abstract:

Dorothy M. Buege (1915-2007), née Dorothy Meyer, was a resident of Kiel, Wisconsin who traveled with friends Eunice Becker and Louise Kissinger from July 28 to August 4, 1940, via Powers Tours of Chicago to east coast locations across Canada and the United States, including the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair. This annotated scrapbook, compiled by Dorothy, documents her travels via photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, maps, ticket stubs, and receipts.

Dorothy M. Buege, née Dorothy Meyer, was born on June 9, 1915, in Kiel, Wisconsin, and died on February 16, 2007, in Crete, Illinois. Her father was Conrad J. Meyer (1867-1960) and her mother was Lillian Schumacker (1877-1946). Dorothy married Lester Arthur Buege (1915-1977) in 1944.

From the end of July to the beginning of August 1940, Dorothy traveled to east coast locations across Canada and the United States with her friends Eunice Becker, of Sauk City, Wisconsin, and Louise Kissinger, also of Kiel, Wisconsin. The women traveled to Toronto, the Thousand Islands, Montreal, St. Catherines, the Green Mountains, New York City, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, and Chicago.

While in New York, Dorothy and her friends attended the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Many countries participated in the New York World's Fair, and millions of people attended the exhibits. This was the first World's Fair focused on the theme of the future and the slogan was "Dawn of a New Day."

Dorothy M. Buege traveled with friends Eunice Becker and Louise Kissinger from July 28 to August 4, 1940, via Powers Tours of Chicago to east coast locations across Canada and the United States, including the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair. This green leather-and-board scrapbook compiled by Dorothy documents their travels via photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, maps, ticket stubs, and receipts. The scrapbook is annotated in Dorothy's hand.

Tipped into the inside front cover of the scrapbook is an undated clipping from a Kiel, Wisconsin, newspaper with a story titled, "Local Girls Return from Enjoyable Eastern Trip," which discusses the tour undertaken by Dorothy Meyer and her friends.

Fifty tourists departed from Chicago, traveling first to Toronto. Memorabilia from Toronto includes postcards of Casa Loma and the King Edward Hotel. The group then began a 50-mile trip on the St. Lawrence River through the Thousand Islands (for which the scrapbook includes a guide book) arriving in Montreal. From their travels to Montreal, the scrapbooks includes postcards of the Mount Royal Hotel, the Oratoire Saint-Joseph, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, the Floral Clock and Victoria Hall, and the Montreal Pharmacy, as well as snapshots taken on the street.

The group traveled from Montreal through the Green Mountains to Manhattan. From their stay in New York City, there is a map of the city and a matchbook from the Park Central Hotel. There are a number of postcards depicting New York City landmarks, including the city skyline, the Times building, Times Square, the Woolworth Building, the Empire State Building, Yankee Stadium, U.S. Custom House, the Aquarium, Trinity Church, Chinatown, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Lower East Side, Grant's Tomb, the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, Ellis Island, and the Triboro Bridges. Snapshots from New York City show the tour group, the Hudson River, Grant's Tomb, Riverside Church, the group on a New York Harbor sightseeing cruise, other ships on the Hudson River during their tour, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

A number of items in the scrapbook are from the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair, which was held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Postcards from the World's Fair included in the scrapbook depict the New York City Building, Corona Gate North, the British Pavilion, the Ireland Pavilion, the Netherlands Pavilion, the Polish Pavilion, the U.S.S.R. Pavilion, the Jewish Palestine Pavilion, the World's Fair Music Hall, the Westinghouse Electric Building, the Hall of Fashion, the Glass Center Building, the Gas Exhibits Building, the Cosmetics Building, the "Speed" Statue, the Theme Center, the Bridge of Tomorrow, Food Building Number Three, and the Bridge of Flags. There are snapshots of the Ford Building, Trylon Building and fountain, a brochure for the "Futurama" General Motors exhibit, a ticket stub for the World's Fair itself, as well as a ticket for a sightseeing bus tour of the Fair, and a map of the Fair grounds.

From New York, the group traveled to Washington, D.C., Arlington, Virginia, and Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. From their stop in Washington D.C., there are snapshots of the White House and the Washington Monument, and postcards from Union Station, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. There is also a photo guide book to Washington D.C. There are also snapshots depicting the Pan-American Building, the Capitol, and a hotel room at the Lee Sheraton Hotel, along with a receipt from the hotel. From Arlington, Virginia, there is a postcard book that Dorothy mailed to her parents, as well as snapshots from the Arlington Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. From Mount Vernon, researchers will find snapshots and a map of George Washington's home.

From the Washington, D.C. and Virginia region, the group began its trip back to Wisconsin via Pittsburgh and Chicago. Researchers will find a postcard of the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus marking the return trip.

There are four blank pages at the back of the book. The majority of the photographs in the scrapbook are 3" x 2," black and white, and most are out of focus. Aside from a Canadian postcard and the Virginia postcard book that Dorothy sent to her parents, the postcards in this collection are unsent and uninscribed. Tipped into the back of the scrapbook is a spread from the Chicago Sunday Tribune from December 27, 1942, entitled "This is America the Beautiful," with photographs of various American landmarks by William J. Sumits and John A. Randazzo.