Route 66 Treasures: Featuring Rare Facsimile Memorabilia from America's Mother Road

by Jim Hinckley

As a longstanding cultural icon and beloved vacation destination, U.S. Route 66’s legendary notoriety continues unabated. In fact, thanks to a corps of preservationists dedicated to keeping nostalgia for the road alive, interest in America’s Main Street is actually growing. But modern 66 enthusiasts aren’t the first to spread the word about the Mother Road—in fact, Route 66 has a rich, decades-long history of advertising behind it. It’s been more than half a century since Route 66 functioned as a major cross-country thoroughfare, but following its displacement by the U.S. Interstate system in the 1950s, advertising ephemera used to promote Route 66 motels, diners, souvenir shops, and the road itself became highly sought-after collectibles. In Route 66 Treasures , author Jim Hinckley’s unique new look at the road examines it through the lens of those promotional and advertising efforts, going so far as to include 15 pieces of fabulous removable facsimile memorabilia—as among them diner menus, cocktail napkins, paper coasters, window decals, postcards, brochures, and more—each enclosed in its own vellum envelope. Hinckley’s chronological history provides a richly illustrated and thoughtful review of Route 66 promotion through the decades in each of the eight states through which it travels.An utterly new look at the Mother Road, Route 66 Treasures offers a rare collectible archive for the growing hordes of 66 enthusiasts.

64 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2013

About the author

Telling America's story. Inspiring road trips by telling people where to go. Sharing the adventure. It's what we do at Jim Hinckley's America.
We do this with books, 23 published to date including Route 66: 100 Years, Here We Are ... On Route 66, Backroads of Arizona, The Big Book of Car Culture, Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Murder and Mayhem on The Main Street of America: Tales From Bloody 66, Ghost Towns of Route 66, and The Illustrated Route 66 Historical Atlas. And we do it with the weekly Coffee With Jim podcast on Podbean, an official Route 66 centennial program. This as well as presentations made internationally illustrate why author, historian and humorist Jim Hinckley has earned the reputation of being a master storyteller.

Reviews

[Jen B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've many Route 66 books. Though the information herein is hardly new or groundbreaking—indeed, it's very much a skim-coat history of the road and those who've lived and travelled along it—"Route 66 Treasures" stands out because of the photographs and clippings printed within its pages. Obviously, as someone who has been working on a 66 photography project for a while, that was very appealing to me, but really, these will be great fun for anyone with an interest in the Mother Road, Americana, kitsch, and road tripping to look at. There are a bunch of what I'll call 'graspable goodies', too—reprints of menus, postcards, and signs. This was just a fun touch. Overall, this was enjoyable to peruse during an illness, and I'm sure to be back to it merely to enjoy the old photographs.