The Indian Ads

In addition to ads featuring the interior of the train, the Santa Fe ran a long series of brown- or turquoise-colored ads featuring Southwest Indian art. One reason may have been that two-color printing cost less than four-colors, but another would have been to emphasize the exotic nature of travel by train through Navaho and other Indian country.

Click any image for a larger view.

This ad ran in a 1951 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.

I’m not sure when and where this ad was placed.

This ad was in the May, 1951 issue of National Geographic.

A half-page ad of uncertain origin, this probably appeared in the Saturday Evening Post or a similar magazine in 1951.

From a 1951 issue of Colliers. I have at least eight more ads in this series, all from 1951 through 1953, that generically advertised any Santa Fe train rather than just the Super Chief. I’ll present these ads in future posts.


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