Merchants' express line of clipper ships for San Francisco. Catalog record
Small, colorful advertising cards were first used during the 1849 gold rush by ship owners to promote passage from the east coast to the west coast of the United States. Employees of the shipping companies distributed these cards, now known as clipper ship cards, to commission merchants and exporters as soon as a ship's schedule was determined.
Although most of the sailing cards advertised the departures of clipper ships from the east coast to San Francisco, other ports around the world were included in the ships' itineraries. The onset of steam transportation both by rail and sea caused the decline of the fleets of clipper ships. The cards were primarily printed by three printing firms: Nesbitt & Company and Watson & Clark of New York and John H. Bufford of Boston. Generally, the cards were printed on one side of a piece of glossy card stock measuring 4" x 6 1/2" inches.
James F. Hunnewell (1832-1910) donated most of the cards in the AAS collection. He acquired them in the course of his business in Boston from the owners of clipper ships.
Access
The collection is fully digitized and cataloged online in the General Library Catalog. Select the "scanned image available here" link available in each catalog record to view and download images.
Resources
Bruce Roberts, "Selling Sail with Clipper Ship Cards," Ephemera News 19 (Winter 2001).
Allan Forbes, "The Story of Clipper Ship Sailing Cards," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 59 (October 1949).