SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
On the Road Since 1977
Celebrating the signs, structures and experiences of the 20th-century American roadscape.
The SCA is a member-supported organization. Join now and gain exclusive access to a full calendar of in-person and online events, recordings, subscriptions to the SCA Journal and Road Notes, full-text access to our website, free downloads and more!
Join Now
Enjoy a handcrafted one-day roadside adventure. Curated by members of the SCA.
NEW: CHICAGO’S NORTH SIDE
On the Road Since 1977
Celebrating the signs, structures and experiences of the 20th-century American roadscape.
Join now and gain exclusive access to live and virtual events, the SCA Journal and Road Notes, and lots more.
Join Now
Enjoy a handcrafted one-day roadside adventure. Curated by members of the SCA.
NEW: CHICAGO’S NORTH SIDE
Upcoming Events
ZOOM EVENT: Gregory Smith – Fellow Travelers: The SCA and Texas Roadside Architecture
Register now for our July 13, 2022 Zoom event. Join Gregory Smith as he talks about the SCA in Texas in general, and Houston in particular. He will also touch upon his National Register work at the Texas Historical Commission. Free for members of the SCA and Preservation Houston.
Read All About It
Read All About It
SAVE THE DATE: Amused in Allegheny: 46th SCA Annual Conference and Tours
Join us in Western, Pennsylvania, June 7-11, 2023, for Amused in Allegheny: 46th Annual SCA Conference and Tours, with our local hosts and guides, ex officio board members Brian Butko and Kevin J. Patrick, PhD.
Read All About It
Read All About It
Event Recordings
News
SCA WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW: June 12, 2022
Mostly cause for celebration, particularly the NY Times story of Stuckey’s as told by our own Stephanie Stuckey, and the NPR story on SCA member Erika Nelson and her miniature museum.
Read More
Read More
NEW! THE JIM SEELEN MOTEL IMAGES COLLECTION
14,000 MOTELS
SCA member Jim “Motel King” Seelen’s motel images collection is now part of our library. This database contains more than 23,000 images with details on more than 14,000 motels that once operated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
NEW! THE JIM SEELEN MOTEL IMAGES COLLECTION
14,000 MOTELS
SCA member Jim “Motel King” Seelen’s motel images collection is part of our library. This database contains more than 23,000 images with details on more than 14,000 motels that once operated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Articles
The Road to Ruin
By Eric Schaefer: More than any other form of motion picture, exploitation movies developed a symbiotic relationship with American road culture over some five decades in the mid-20th century.
Read More
Read More
Landrum’s – The Biggest Little Diner
FULL ARTICLE by Mella Rothwell Harmon – Landrum’s Diner in Reno, NV, is small, just 240 square feet, yet it plays an unusually large role in local history.
Read More
Read More
Route 66: Another Perspective on “Mother” Road
A new public history project, The Women on the Mother Road: Route 66, sheds light on women’s experiences along the historic highway.
Read More
Read More
Miss Alma Makes a Bee Line: A Story of One Woman and Two Auto Trails
By John and Kris Murphey – As the first female transcontinental highway booster, Alma Rittenberry had promoted her Jackson Highway not only as a memorial to the former President nicknamed “Old Hickory,” but as a progressive path to get farmers out of the mud and a source of “financial and cultural gain” for the North and South.
Read More
Read More
YESCO Says “Yes” to Relighting Idaho’s Panida Theater
By Doug Jones: After a period of more than 18 months, the Panida Theater comes out of the darkness, looking forward to a brighter future and its continuing promise of quality performance in north Idaho.
Read More
Read More
Teal Roofs and Pecan Logs
By Lisa Raflo and Jeffrey Durbin: Though it now mostly follows current corporate trends, Stuckey's was once a daring innovator whose Pecan Shoppes were the precursors of the convenience store.
Read More
Read More
DOWNLOAD/BUY
SCA Journal Back Issues | SCA Road Notes Back Issues
Dr. Patrick’s
Postcard Roadside
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: New York City’s West Side Piers
A circa-1960 postcard shows New York City’s Transatlantic Steamship Terminal in the Hudson River between 44th and 54th streets ...
Read More
Read More
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Cedar Tourist Court
Westward across the plains of Kansas, US 40 originally split at Manhattan with the south branch following the Victory Highway through Salina (current US 40), and the north branch following the Midland Trail through Clay Center.
Read More
Read More
DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Gary’s Duck Inn
Gary Starling built his Duck Inn on the Orange Blossom Trail, marked out as the main tourist highway through central Florida in 1934.
Read More
Read More
No ads. Which is kind of ironic, given what we’re into.
The Society for Commercial Archeology is an all-volunteer road-tripping organization fueled entirely by your support.
Standard and donation-level memberships available