SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
SOCIETY for
COMMERCIAL
ARCHEOLOGY
Advocates for America’s
Roadside Heritage
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!
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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 Annual Appeal
Upcoming Events
Zoom Event: Weirdness by the Road: Ordinary Places, Oddball Names with Bill Swislow
SCA members are invited to register now for our next Zoom event: Weirdness by the Road: Ordinary Places, Oddball Names with Bill Swislow. Weirdness for sure, with the photos to prove it!
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IT’S ON! SCA 2022 Summer Tour
Our marvelous mid-century weekend in Queens, New York, sponsored by the Society for Commercial Archeology and co-host Retro Roadmap, is back on schedule. Cocktails and tours start June 17, 2022. Please see details.
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Zoom Recordings
News
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.
Dr. Patrick’s
Postcard Roadside
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.
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DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Mammoth Cave vs. Great Onyx Cave
When Mammoth Cave National Park was established in 1941, Great Onyx Cave, three miles from the entrance to Mammoth Cave, was not included, its owners continuing to operate the show cave in competition with Mammoth.
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DR. PATRICK’S POSTCARD ROADSIDE: Colonial Modern Cabins
Cabins clustered around the home headhouse along the main road at the edge of town had become standardized by the time this 1940s postcard was produced to advertise Colonial "MODERN" Cabins just west of Richmond, Indiana.
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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
Ephemera: Harnessing Buffalo
The image-makers of Buffalo didn’t let natural history interfere with excellent branding potential, particularly for the Pan American Exposition of 1901.
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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.
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5 Faves: Tim O’Brien’s Roadside Pic(k)s
In his latest book, Tim O’Brien pays homage to the real stars of the roadside: the creators of public art and commercial display whose visions were fulfilled without the baggage of cultural influence.
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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.
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Book Review: Traces of J.B. Jackson
By Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, reviewed by Philip Langdon: If commercial archeology had a patron saint, it would doubtless be John Brinckerhoff Jackson.
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C-Span: Lectures in History –20th-Century Roadside Attractions
In this C-SPAN presentation, University of Mary Washington Professor (and SCA member) Christine Henry talks about the history of roadside attractions and her own experience traveling to a freshwater pond in Ohio called the Blue Hole.
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SCA Journal Back Issues | SCA Road Notes Back Issues
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The Society for Commercial Archeology is an all-volunteer road-tripping organization fueled entirely by your support.
Standard and donation-level memberships available