d travels with his friends. This iconic novel and the rest of the Beat Generation valued freedom, exploration, and a bohemian lifestyle that was made exceptionally possible through the expansion of interstate highways and accessibility of car travel. It wasn’t just the beatniks who had a fascination with road travel. Men home from World War II and people disenchanted with city life saw roads trips as a symbol of freedom, adventure, and a rite of passage.
More and more, Americans were able to say, “Let’s go” and simply leave on an unplanned journey. In addition to beatniks and war veterans, middle-class families were hitting the open roads. Along the way, tourists stopped at zoos, aquariums, museums, and landmarks. Businesses catered to the growing influx of travelers. Roadside diners and motels were in their heyday. Americans were on the move and many travelers were documenting their journeys through postcards. These trending souvenirs were perfect at the time as a means of communications, a travel souvenir, and to add to personal collections. For small business owners and tourist attractions, postcards doubled as an easy impulse sale and as a powerful means of advertising.
By the 1960s, air travel was more popular and more commonplace. Americans were flying the friendly skies and a new age of tourism and souvenir buying was born. Hawaii, Las Vegas, amusement parks, the Poconos in Pennsylvania, the Catskills in New York, and Disney were all top destinations for American vacationers. At the time, postcards still reigned supreme. Pennant flags, lighters, and serving trays name-dropped with destinations and landscapes were also hot sellers for gift shops, souvenir stores, and mom and pop hotels.
In 1977, the I ♥ NY slogan was born, causing explosive sales for souvenir retailers in the area for t-shirts, mugs, stickers, key chains, and anything else the logo could be printed on from 1977 well into the 1990s. The successful New York tourism campaign spurred copycats nationwide. Cities, zoos, parks, and destinations around the country profited from the popularity of simplified name-dropping on mass-market goods. Just as travel had become accessible and affordable to every family, souvenirs were no longer a symbol for the wealthy, but an attainable memento for all travelers. The mass-market souvenirs we know today were born.
For decades, mass-market souvenirs were the industry standard. Travelers collected t-shirts, mugs, key chains, and Christmas ornaments from every trip. However, in the age of Amazon and eBay, where anything can be purchased at any time, mass produced souvenirs began to lose their luster. On top of e-commerce, the height of Instagram and social media allow travels to be documented and shared instantaneously. These mass-market souvenirs don’t carry the same weight they once did. In a world of selfies, who is buying souvenirs?
As the concept of the modern souvenir continues to evolve, we return to its original definition: proof and memory of travels. The original American souvenirs were chunks of Plymouth Rock, snippets of White House curtains, items that had a direct attachment to the place visited. As a nation, we won’t digress to bootleg souvenir hunting, but there is an increasing demand for meaningful souvenirs. Selfies offer immortalized moments and social media bragging rights, but travelers still want something tangible to bring home. Sometimes that is still a mass market t-shirt, but more commonly the memento is something specific to the area or attraction. Handmade goods, products that are made in the USA, and handcrafted designs have become increasingly popular over the past ten years. Jane Riley, museum store manager and visitor services supervisor for The Manassas Museum System and a member of the Museum Store Association says the souvenir industry has changed in the ten or twenty years in the sense that customers want “fewer collectibles. People are becoming more minimalistic. They want useful things — not just items to dust.”
To appeal to families and the modern traveler, Riley offers interactiv