Souvenir of the White Mountains, New Hampshire Accordion Postcard Set

NORTHEAST. 
Accordion Postcard Set Folder, Souvenir, National Forest, c. 1910s. 

(This postcard folder ships for free inside a rigid Ultra•Pro® toploader to protect it during shipping.)

Due to their proximity to Boston, the White Mountains have long been a treasured destination for outdoor recreation and general sightseeing. Taking up about one-fourth of the state and most of its northern triangular top, improved roads and impressively engineered rail lines encouraged heavy tourism into the area by the turn of the 20th century. Boasting the tallest Appalachian peak in the northeast, Mt. Washington, and a longer run of ranges also topping out above the tree line and named, mostly, for early U.S. presidents, the Presidential Range, there was much to see indeed. This set of 22 lightly colorized photographic-illustrations is one of the oldest we have yet encountered, with a postmark of 1914 (only three years after the White Mountain National Forest was created, protecting most of the area as wilderness). As a result, the chief mode of transportation depicted is rail, including the famous Mt. Washington Railway (still in use as The Cog), with its impressive “Grade 1980 feet to the Mile.” Key to the regional draw, Mt. Washington is centrally featured, including the “Old Tip Top” house on its summit. But the numerous stately and sprawling hotels having dotted the region since the 1800, and housing guests in opulence, are also well represented: The Fabyan House, Bretton Woods, and of course, the Mt. Washington Hotel, among others. Yet it is the natural scenes that steal the show: a glacier-cut valley in Crawford Notch, the lake and forest scenes of Franconia Notch—including The Flume, an ancient river course set within tunnels of sheer granite faces—the set itself anchored by “The Old Man of the Mountain” on its cover … Postcard accordion folders became ubiquitous in step with the popularity of motorized tourist travel. The first postcard folders trace to the early 20th-century. But it was in the mid-1930s when these fold-out mailers gained brilliant color. From that point through into the 1960s, and by way of far-flung post offices the nation over, a flood of these postcard folders found their way to friends and family from tourists taking in the diverse sites and attractions all across North America. The sharp commercial-art style illustration indicative of mid-century America, with covers printed on a tough linen paper, makes the souvenir sets of especially the late 1930s-1950s pop over half a century later—full-color photographs having arrived to these postcard folders by the 1960s … [Condition: Considering this set has made it beyond the century mark, it is in good shape. As usual for sets that were sent through the mail, the cover has been roughed up (with what appears to be flecks of crystallized glue, or perhaps bits of an old petrified rubber band on back lower corner). But the cover did its job, the postcards within still in fine condition. Sent to a Miss Ennis from “Fritz,” we’d also like to think that just a touch of that love remains embedded within its boards.] 

Condition: Used Good. 
Local / Regional Attractions. 
Dimensions: 6.25" wide x 4.25" high