Resorts

A young woman is accompanied by an elderly matron as they depart a summer resort for the return trip to the city for the winter social season. Included is a brief verse by Arthur H. Folwell describing the scene.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The poem by Puck‘s editor Arthur H. Folwell illustrates the contemporary theme, repeated in countless cartoons and humorous observations of the day, of the “Summer Girl” taking to summer resorts, not so much to exercise or relax, but to seek romance and husbands. Even as she leaves the resort, Ehrhart’s “summer girl” (his pretty girls were Puck‘s counterparts to Life Magazine’s Gibson Girls) reflexively reveals petticoats and an ankle, which was relatively daring in 1902.

Mark L. H. Odea shares with Theodore Roosevelt the plans of the newly formed See America First Association, which intends to bolster American tourism education and revenue. Odea asks Roosevelt for his views on the subject, in addition to any suggestions he might have.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-06

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Souvenir Novelty Co.

Language

English

This postcard shows a french château near Cherbourg. The manor house sits nestled among trees across a pond and lawn.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “One of the summer resorts near Cherbourg which is one of the most favored places of the kind in all France.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Postcard showing several people walking along Cheltenham Beach in Auckland, New Zealand. Charles C. Myers notes the beach is part of a bathing resort.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “A summer resort beach scene near Auckland.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Contract by W. B. McKinney and George T. Carley offering Theodore Roosevelt the option to purchase one share in Sharon Springs, Oregon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-05

Contract by W. B. McKinney and George T. Carley offering Theodore Roosevelt the option to purchase one share in Sharon Springs, Oregon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-05

Contract by W. B. McKinney and George T. Carley offering Theodore Roosevelt the option to purchase one share in Sharon Springs, Oregon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-05

Young women dance with older and younger men at a summer resort. None of the “couples” is well matched, because the men of the women’s age are nowhere to be found. Caption: Hops as they now are at our fashionable summer resorts.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-08-18

A well-dressed, imperious woman is seated in a chair, with her feet on a cushion, holding a scepter and a paper that states, “Fashion’s Decrees for Summer Resorts.” Among the rules are the following: “Ladies must wear at least three costumes a day,” and “Good form requires every lady to have a maid and every gentleman a valet.” After listing the rules, it ends with “Style First, Comfort Afterwards.” On the left are idle workers at an empty “American Summer Hotel,” and on the right, crowds of travelers pass through terminals to board steamships headed “To Europe.” Caption: Dame fashion’s foolish and expensive rules are responsible for the increasing exodus to Europe and the empty summer hotels in America.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-17

A mermaid rides on the back of a sea serpent headed out to sea at the end of the summer season at a resort. She has turned to wave goodbye to the resort staff on shore, who are in turn waving goodbye to her.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-09-17

William Jennings Bryan, standing on the veranda of the “Hotel Jefferson,” attracts the attention of several women labeled “Penn Democracy, Illinois Democracy, Ohio Democracy, New York Democracy, Indiana Democracy, Georgia Democracy, VT Democracy, R.I. Democracy, Maine Democracy, Ark. Democracy, N.J. Democracy, Mass. Democracy” and “Mo. Dem.” The woman from Ohio is holding a book “Bryanecdotes.” Bryan’s vest is decorated with donkeys and a watch or key fob has the head of a donkey at the end.

comments and context

Comments and Context

One of the cliches about social habits of the day was that urban families fled to farms and rural resorts in summer months, and that “eligible” women and young men looking for dates or wives flocked to seaside resorts. Uncountable cartoons and short stories in magazines from the 1880s onward found creative fodder in these social conventions.