For most of New Haven history, the best way to get a message out was to put it into print. And the biggest way to do that, at least on paper, was a broadside—what we now more or less call a poster.
Rarely intended to survive the moment of their utility, most of New Haven’s broadsides—promoting shops, acts, amusements, auctions, plays, dances, campaigns and more—have been lost to history.
Some can still be found, however, and never more easily than this Saturday, noon to 4, when the New Haven Museum’s Whitney Library will lay out a popup exhibit of broadsides dating from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
Meantime, feel free to scroll around and zoom in, letting this broad yet small preview of the show’s posters hang on the wall, tack board or telephone poll of your mind.
Photo Key:
1. Announcing the 1931 dedication of what we now call Tweed-New Haven Airport.
2. Mayor Richard C. Lee running for reelection in the 1960s—and still all-in on urban renewal.
3. Inviting 19th-century families to enjoy a quaintly primitive carousel in West Haven.
4. Promoting a performance of Hamlet in 1863, about a year and a half before the lead actor would assassinate Abraham Lincoln
5. Promoting an Octoberfest event at Lighthouse Point Park in 1988.
6. Inviting New Haveners to take an ice skating jaunt to Branford’s Lake Saltonstall in 1865.
7. A 1787 ballot notice featuring candidate James Hillhouse and handwritten tally marks.
8. Promoting the 1971 mayoral campaign of Hank Parker, who would be elected state treasurer in 1974.
9. Signor Blitz and his astonishing canaries seeking mid-19th-century audiences.
10. Announcing an encore picnic performance by the New Haven Symphony in 1984.
11. Pulling out all the stops for a celebration of America’s centennial in 1876.
Written by Dan Mims. Images processed by Dan Mims and provided courtesy of the New Haven Museum.
