Geller collection of hotel postcards and luggage labels
Scope and Content of the Collection
Collection of hotel postcards and hotel luggage labels primarily issued in North America, South America, and Europe between approximately 1900 and 1992. Sixty binders and one envelope of 9,578 postcards depicting United States hotels from all fifty states and Washington, D.C., as well as one hotel in Ontario, Canada and one in Hamburg, Germany. The envelope contains 34 unindexed additions to the postcard collection featuring hotels from various states. The collection includes both photographic cards as well as art cards. Many postcards have written messages and postmarks. Binders are organized by state and include typescript indexes. The majority of the postcards were printed in the United States, but a few were printed in Germany between 1902 and 1912. Publishers and printers include Curt Teich & Co., Asheville Post Card Co., Detroit Publishing Co., E.C. Kropp Co., Hugh C. Leighton Co., Bromley & Co., Inc., Tichnor Bros, Inc., Colourpicture, and Albertype Co. Collection includes 7,528 original postcards and 2,050 color photocopies.
The collection includes one album of 395 hotel luggage labels from Europe, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia, Canada, and one label from New York City. The bulk of labels are from England, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and the former Czechoslovakia. Printers include L.M. Kohler, Molteni Arti Grafiche, and S.A. Richter & Son.
Dates
- Creation: 1900-1992
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1910 - 1970
Creator
- Geller, Laurence (Person)
Language
Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The Geller collection of hotel postcards and luggage labels is open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 album at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Geller collection of hotel postcards and luggage labels is the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
Biography of Laurence Geller
In 1989 Laurence S. Geller founded Geller & Co., for which he also served as CEO and chairman until 1997. Here he specialized in domestic and international hotel, corporate, and real estate development. In 1997 Geller founded Chicago-based Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc., a real estate investment trust of high-end hotels and resorts in the United States, Europe, and Mexico. In 2011, Geller was appointed Chancellor of West London University, the successor to his alma mater, Ealing Technical College. He and his wife Ruth are active in many humanitarian, cultural and civic charities and organizations in the United Kingdom and United States. Ruth Geller serves as the director of the Children’s Memorial Foundation in Chicago.
Extent
14.5 Linear Feet (61 volumes, 1 envelope)
Abstract
Collection of hotel postcards and hotel luggage labels primarily issued in North America, South America, and Europe between 1900 and 1992.
Arrangement
Postcards are arranged in albums alphabetically by state. Within albums the postcards are arranged alphabetically by city. Separate albums for Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago, Illinois are arranged alphabetically by hotel name. Luggage labels organized alphabetically by country of hotel.
Collection Stack Location
4 19 11-13
Provenance
Gift of Laurence and Ruth Geller, 2011.
Processed by
Lindsey O'Brien, 2015.
Acknowledgements
This inventory was created with the generous support of the Council on Library and Information Services, which is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Subject
- Albertype Co. (Organization)
- Asheville Post Card Co. (Organization)
- Bromley & Co., Inc. (Boston, Mass.) (Organization)
- Colourpicture Publishers (Firm) (Organization)
- Detroit Publishing Co. (Organization)
- Geller, Laurence (Person)
- Hugh C. Leighton Co., Manufacturers (Organization)
- L.M. Kohler (Organization)
- Molteni Arti (Organization)
- S.A. Richter & Son (Organization)
- Curt Teich & Co. (Organization)
- E.C. Kropp Co. (Organization)
- Tichnor Brothers, Inc. (Organization)
- Title
- Inventory of the Geller collection of hotel postcards and luggage labels, 1900-1992, bulk 1910-1970
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Lindsey O'Brien
- Date
- ©2015.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512
reference@newberry.org