Take a stroll down memory lane with cool vintage advertising art and illustrations from the 1930s-1960s.

Retro Reveries started a couple of years after I had graduated from library school. I was looking for a creative way to combine my training/education with my love of art, history, preservation, and my exceptional sense of humor. I stumbled upon several articles about the popularity of midcentury advertising, bought a couple of vintage magazines, and was hooked.

Most of the print ads, covers, and inside illustrations featured custom art by fantastic artists and illustrators. Then there's the fact that there are only so many of these original printed gems out there, which essentially makes them limited edition prints. By the time I get them, they are usually unloved and really ratty, so there's a particular satisfaction in dismantling the broken magazines and seeing vivid wall art emerge.

Why the midcentury era in particular? The magazine covers, story art, and advertisements featured bright, cheerful, fun images depicting everyday life in America. Even the fonts and taglines were clever, energetic, and upbeat. During World War II, they fostered a spirit of optimism and national unity. They tell wonderful stories of families spending time together, women keeping house in heels, men heading to the office, mischievous children (often freckled red-haired boys with missing teeth), summer family vacations, exotic cruises, you name it. I can almost see my parents as rambunctious little kids and grandparents as young adults through them. Automakers like Ford, Pontiac, Plymouth, Chevrolet, Nash, Studebaker, Cadillac, and many others produced gorgeous cars that we now call classics. And of course, there are my personal favorites, the Saturday Evening Post covers, which may have had the most wonderful art of all.

Today, the original magazine covers and inside illustrations and advertisements are widely collected by enthusiasts all around the world, and can be quite valuable. I currently sell the physical prints in the Retro Reveries Etsy shop and am working on a store for Retro-Reveries.com. Keeping true to my mission, the repository here on Flickr is meant to provide a central access point to the digital images I've gathered for people to enjoy and share (please respect any copyright limitations and provide attribution / link back as appropriate).