American Viewbooks > American Viewbooks
Avery Classics has about 4,800 viewbooks, or souvenir publications created to document and promote cities and towns. This collection covers all fifty American states and dates primarily from the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Although many of the viewbooks in the Classics collection are bound pamphlets containing photographic or lithographic illustrations, other formats range from mass-produced illustrated monographs to singular hand-crafted objects. Recurring themes within the viewbooks include county fairs, national expositions, and records of the damage caused by fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. As a whole, this collection provides extensive documentation of American vernacular architecture and urban development.
This collection is being cataloged with support from the CLIR Hidden Special Collections grant program, which is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Cover of viewbook featuring an illustrated silhouette of Coney Island.
Isaac H. Blanchard Co., Glimpses of the new Coney Island: America's most popular pleasure resort (1904).
Avery Classics
AA735 N4B7 Is7
Page with photograph of a "Bird's eye view of Coney Island".
Isaac H. Blanchard Co., Glimpses of the new Coney Island: America's most popular pleasure resort (1904).
Avery Classics
AA735 N4B7 Is7
Cover of viewbook showing an illustrated view of Chicago and Lake Michigan.
Curt Teich & Co., Chicago, the city beautiful (194-?).
Avery Classics
AA735 C4 C4345 S
Centerfold view of the "Chicago skyline, showing Grant Park and Michigan Boulevard", with marginalia.
Curt Teich & Co., Chicago, the city beautiful (194-?).
Avery Classics
AA735 C4 C4345 S
Cover of viewbook featuring a color photo of Helena, Montana with Mount Helena in the background.
Business Men’s Association of the City of Helena, Montana, Helena, Montana (c.1905).
Avery Classics
AA735 H36 H36 S
Page spread with text (left) and a photograph of a "Typical Helena House" (right).
Business Men’s Association of the City of Helena, Montana, Helena, Montana (c.1905).
Avery Classics
AA735 H36 H36 S
Cover of viewbook featuring an illustrated Albuquerue skyline framed with smoke and two Native American pots.
Avery Classics
AA735 AL15 AL15
Back cover of viewbook portraying illustrated map of Alburquerque, New Mexico within a pot.
Hening, H. B and E. Dana Johnson, Albuquerque, New Mexico : chief city of a new empire in the great Southwest (1908).
Avery Classics
AA735 AL15 AL15