Century of Progress Postcard Collection | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents:

The postcards in this collection showcase artist renderings of buildings created for the Century of Progress World’s Fair, crowds attending the fair, and landscape scenes of the fair during the day and night. Postcards include additional information on the back of postcards about the scenes depicted, additional facts about the fair, and a location to put a one cent stamp. The postcards are approximately 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches in size.

The collection also includes nine postcards that depict general Chicago landmarks, including the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Art Institute. These postcards were created by C.T. Art-Colortone and published by Max Rigot Selling Company. These are linen postcards developed by Curt Teich and Company, who owned C.T. Art-Colortone.

Biographical/Historical Context:

The Century of Progress postcards were created by the American Colortype Company and were published specifically for the Max Rigot Selling Company to distribute. The postcards note that they were printed in the United States.

Acquisition Source: The collection was acquired by the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections in 2025 with support of Library Friend Karl Greve.