Q. David Bowers Postcard Collection















Cinema postcards from the United States--in some cases very numerous (New York, Wisconsin), and where there are fewer than a half dozen, the number is noted after the state.
- Alabama
- Alaska (1)
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii (4)
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
The collection consists of over 5,000 postcards collected by Q. David Bowers over several decades and include many unusual images of entertainment history and architecture form the 1880s through the 1950s. (The first donation was of 3486 cards, the second was approximately 2000 cards.) The particular focus of the collection is pre 1920 cinema postcards and is particularly rich in illustrating the early development of cinema exhibition and nickelodeon theaters. It includes:
- amusement parks and midway theaters
- tent theaters
- open air theaters (airdomes)
- theater interiors, lobbies, lounges, ticket booths, theater organs
- theater calamities: fires, floods
- floating theaters and also in later years
- drive-in theaters
In addition, there are 1050 portrait postcards of movies stars from the early 1910s including Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Dustin and William Farnum, Pearl White, Florence Turner and Mack Sennett's Bathing Beauties.
notes excerpted from evaluation by William O'Farrell