Search
- Trade Card for Nautical and Optical Instruments, Samuel Thaxter & Son, 1886 - In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and saved the often illustrated little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

- 1886
- Collections - Artifact
Trade Card for Nautical and Optical Instruments, Samuel Thaxter & Son, 1886
In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and saved the often illustrated little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.
- Road Whiz Ultra Navigation Device, 1995 - For American drivers, gadgets like this represented a transition from traditional paper maps to electronic navigation systems. Developed in the mid-1990s, when GPS devices were still expensive, the Road Whiz provided pre-stored information on travel distances and roadside services. But the data could not be updated to reflect changes over time.

- 1995
- Collections - Artifact
Road Whiz Ultra Navigation Device, 1995
For American drivers, gadgets like this represented a transition from traditional paper maps to electronic navigation systems. Developed in the mid-1990s, when GPS devices were still expensive, the Road Whiz provided pre-stored information on travel distances and roadside services. But the data could not be updated to reflect changes over time.