1890 circa -To The Summer Resorts Denver, Salt Lake, Monterey, Yellowstone Park and the Dalles of the Columbia / Union Pacific

Work on Paper

A Yellowstone Collective

"To The Summer Resorts Denver, Salt Lake, Monterey, Yellowstone Park and the Dalles of the Columbia". Designer unknown. Lithograph (12" x 30"). Circa 1890 .

Name/Title

1890 circa -To The Summer Resorts Denver, Salt Lake, Monterey, Yellowstone Park and the Dalles of the Columbia / Union Pacific

Description

This 1890s Union Pacific Railroad poster is historically unconventional in nearly every aspect. From its long rectangular size, to classifying Yellowstone as a ‘summer resort’ and finally to using butterflies as a design motif, the poster represents a unique marketing approach for its day. The intended audience of the poster appears to be the lady traveler, as evidenced by the feminine design that showcases butterflies. In this approach, the Union Pacific is capitalizing on the Victorian hobby of collecting butterflies by European and American women in the late 19th century. Although the illustrator is not known, the printer is listed on the piece: Rand, McNally & Co., Printers and Engravers, Chicago. The poster shows no date; however because the term ‘summer resort’ was popular in advertising literature in the last decade of the 19th century, an estimated date of the 1890s is reasonable. Based on the number of images that have listed at auction and those held today in private and institutional collections, the poster is judged to have been printed in very limited quantities.

Valuations

Date

Jun 1, 2026

Created By

[email protected]

Create Date

May 30, 2026

Updated By

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Update Date

June 2, 2026