On Your Way with Triple A

This 1950s giveaway from the American Automobile Association (AAA) targeted a growing group of post-World War II drivers and car owners -- women. The ad on this needlebook reminded women about AAA's "Advantages, Privileges, [and] Protection" when away from their daily household chores.

When AAA first formed, the annual Glidden Tour was conceived to raise public consciousness about the poor condition of America’s roads. These tours were grueling, several-hundred-mile tests of automobile reliability and endurance. Cars often got stuck in the mud, as in this ca. 1910 photograph of a "pathfinder" car--one that traveled the roads before the official tour, measuring their distances and noting their condition and surface quality.

By 1915, AAA’s advocacy of better roads could be seen in improvements along extended stretches of cross-country roads and within national parks. So many motorists stopped at Yellowstone National Park on their way to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco that automobiles were officially allowed in the park for the first time. Motorists arrived prepared to camp so public campgrounds were created to ensure safety, order, and control.

AAA has long been known for its road maps. Roads were so poorly marked in the early years of motoring that maps had to include detailed written instructions or photographs of landmarks with arrows superimposed on them. As roads improved--and with the addition of identifiable highway names and numbers--road maps became easier to follow. This detailed 1934 book of maps to and from New York City came from the Lansing Branch of AAA Michigan.

In 1915, the Automobile Club of Missouri offered the first emergency road service for its members. This idea caught on quickly, and it soon became a service offered by all AAA affiliates to its members. This toy tow truck, made by the Wyandotte (Michigan) Toy Company about 1940, proudly sports an American Automobile Association decal on its side. It may have been a promotional item for AAA.

As the number of Mom-and-Pop motels increased after World War II, competition provided the impetus for motel owners to offer free giveaways as both souvenirs and easy advertising. This book of matches, which was probably neatly set in an ashtray in the motel room when the guest arrived, proudly indicates that the Rest-Well Motel, in western Wisconsin, was AAA-approved.

This delightful "Trip-Pak" was a free giveaway of AAA Michigan during the post-World War II era. Look more closely and you’ll see Optrex eye wash, Burma-Shave shaving cream, razor blades, NoDoz tablets, TUMS antacid, Bromo-Seltzer antacid/pain reliever, and Vaseline hair tonic. Clearly created with male travelers in mind, perhaps this kit was designed for the traveling businessman.

Before the days of MapQuest, GPS, and Google Maps, travelers could visit the local AAA office before embarking on a long-distance vacation to pick up a TripTik--a collection of strip maps in a spiral binding. The knowledgeable AAA agent would map out the designated route with a brightly colored marker. This TripTik, provided as a service to members of AAA Michigan, marks out an early 1950s trip from Detroit to Lake Wales, Florida.

AAA’s active lobbying for better roads included the push for the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, authorizing 41,000 miles of interstate expressways. This 1956 booklet, available at AAA Michigan offices at the time, described for eager readers the "Exciting Story of the Nation’s 50 Billion Dollar Road Program."

AAA began producing travel guides in the teens and 1920s, to help vacationers plan their trips. The first TourBook in its modern format appeared in 1959. By 1992, the date of this TourBook, these contained a sophisticated rating system as well as indications of accessible accommodations and non-smoking areas in restaurants. In the days before the Internet, having a TourBook in hand guaranteed a no-risk vacation.