Florida Tourism

[Indian River Region Promotional Body]

Welcome to the Indian River Country [1936] [Poster-Style Graphic Wraps] [Citrus & Tourism]

A Quintessential Artifact of the Interwar Florida Tourism Boom.
A vibrant and structurally ambitious artifact of Depression-era boosterism, capturing the Indian River region’s pivot from a rural citrus hub to a premier 'New Deal' tourism destination. 

While many Florida guides of this period focused on the 'Gilded Age' glamour of the Gold Coast, this 1936 booklet emphasizes the varied 'Working Man’s Paradise'—blending sport fishing, marsh hunting, and high-yield citrus farming with the newly accessible culture of automobile travel. The multi-panel cover art is a standout specimen of mid-1930s commercial design, utilizing the stylized, simplified forms and saturated palettes of the interwar travel-poster movement. It provides a rare town-by-town survey of fifteen coastal localities during a period of significant regional identity formation.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Design: Multi-panel color-litho cover in classic 1930s travel-poster style.
+++ Local Profiles: Granular coverage of 15 towns including Eau Gallie, Grant, Indialantic, and Sebastian.
+++ Branding: Heavy focus on the 'Indian River Orange' as both a commodity and a cultural symbol.
+++ Visuals: 28 pages of photographs and stylized graphic panels typical of 1930s regional marketing.
+++ Rarity: Scarce; OCLC/WorldCat records only 6 institutional holdings.

CONDITION: Very Good. The bold, poster-style cover remains bright and highly presentable. There is a localized stain to the lower corner of the inside cover and first page, though it does not affect the exterior graphics or the structural integrity. Otherwise, a carefully handled, clean example with only minor wrapper corner wear.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE --
The 1936 Indian River booklet marks the precise moment Florida transitioned from an agricultural frontier into a motorized tourist playground. Produced during the height of the Great Depression, it uses "booster optimism" to sell a lifestyle of self-sufficiency (citrus and cattle) alongside modern leisure (tarpon fishing and beach-going). It is a vital record of the 15 included towns—many of which were then merely small fishing villages or groves—capturing their landscape before the post-WWII development boom.

Subjects: Indian River Florida, Brevard County History, Florida Citrus Industry, 1930s Tourism, WPA-Era Graphic Design, Sport Fishing History, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, New Smyrna, Florida Ephemera, Travel Promotion, Americana, Regional History, Trade Catalogues.

Item #21656

Price: $125.00