By Mary Ann Buckner The first road in Kentucky was known as the “Wilderness Road,” aptly named since the area was largely unsettled country back in 1769. Inhabited by only about 70,000 settlers at the time, these woodsmen with rifles and axes made their way through the Cumberland Mountains to what is now known as the Commonwealth of Kentucky. For roadside fans, Kentucky doesn’t have a Route 66 or the gleaming silver diners of the Northeast. The state does, however, have plenty of backroads, where on any given day, a commercial archaeologist will undoubtedly see something worthy of a stop.

By Debra Jane Seltzer – The Bear Manufacturing Company was established in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1917 under the slogan “Let Bear Lug Your Luggage.” If the sign looks familiar to you, you’re probably a Deadhead.

FULL ARTICLE MOST OF US have unique stories about how we came to join the SCA. Mine involved an eagle, a birdie, and may have been the only membership linked to golf. At least the course, Valle Vista, was situated just off Route 66 outside of Kingman, Arizona. So that counts for something.

FULL ARTICLE By Keith A. Sculle – COMMERCIAL ARCHEOLOGY started from the efforts of a few people promoting the preservation of structures that were long ignored and discredited in mid-century America.

FULL ARTICLE By Arthur Krim Forty years ago, in November 1977, the first annual meeting of the Society for Commercial Archeology (SCA) took place at the Museum of Transportation in Boston, now the site of the Children’s Museum on the Fort Point Channel.

FULL ARTICLE By Keith A. Sculle – My introduction to the Society for Commercial Archeology was at the second conference held at Columbia University in 1978.

FULL ARTICLE By Chester Liebs – On November 20, 1976, I chaired a meeting at the University of Vermont’s Robert Hull Fleming Museum to explore the future of the commercial heritage generated by the automobile in the 20th century.

FULL ARTICLE By Brian Butko – Century III Mall opened south of Pittsburgh in 1979. That was “my” mall and throughout the 1980s. Its thousands of parking spots would fill to capacity, leaving anxious shoppers to park on streets, on grass, anywhere so they could shop ...

FULL ARTICLE Douglas Towne answers a few questions regarding his article in the Fall 2017 issue of the SCA Journal, “Ain’t No Valley Higher: The Spin on the World’s Largest Revolving Sign.”