Douglas R. Pappas Archive, 1913-2004

Summary

Creator:

Pappas, Douglas.

Abstract:

Douglas Pappas was a traveler, collector, lawyer, and a huge fan of Baseball. The Douglas Pappas Archive documents the modern Lincoln Highway Association, as well as the personal interests of Douglas Pappas with his travel albums/scrapbooks and postcard collection. The collection is arranged into four series: Lincoln Highway Association, Publications, Travel albums/Scrapbooks, and Postcards. The Lincoln Highway Association series contains business records, ephemera, and manuscripts that date from their charter conference planning in 1992 to 2004. There are newsletters relating to local chapter activities, reports, and correspondence. The Lincoln Highway Forum from 1993-2004 is included in the publications series with other printed materials relating to the Lincoln Highway and Lincoln Highway Association that cover 1913-2003. The travel albums/scrapbooks span the years 1985-1999 and contain postcards, maps, souvenirs, photographs, and typed commentary documenting travels on roads across the United States. The postcard collection focuses on buildings such as hotels and motels, as well as landmarks along the numbered highways in the United States. U.S. Highways 1 through 101 are included in the collection and date approximately from 1917-1971.

Extent:

20.0 Linear feet (34 manuscript boxes and 6 postcard boxes)

Language:

English

Authors:

Finding aid prepared by Timothy R. Borbely

Background

Scope and Content:

The Douglas Pappas Archive documents the modern Lincoln Highway Association, as well as the personal interests of Douglas Pappas with his travel albums/scrapbooks and postcard collection. The collection is arranged into four series: Lincoln Highway Association, Publications, Travel Albums/Scrapbooks, and Postcards.

The Lincoln Highway Association series contains business records, ephemera, and manuscripts that date from their charter conference planning in 1992 to 2004. In the business records there are newsletters relating to local chapter activities and research, reports, member lists, conference planning materials, pamphlets, and various correspondence. There is a great deal of correspondence between Douglas Pappas and Keith Hixon in the New York/New Jersey folders. A bumper sticker, charter conference flyers, and general flyers make up the ephemera in this series. There are several pages of handwritten notes from Douglas Pappas on yellow lined paper.

The Publications series includes the official quarterly journal of the Lincoln Highway Association entitled The Lincoln Highway Forum, which spans from 1993-2004. There are also other printed materials relating to the Lincoln Highway and Lincoln Highway Association that cover 1913-2003. The official membership rosters of the modern Lincoln Highway Association from 1993-2003 are within this series. There are guides and maps relating to the Lincoln Highway, as well as news clippings and articles. Most of this material is copied from the original and there are some printed from websites.

The Travel Albums/Scrapbooks series encompasses the years 1985-1999 and contains postcards, maps, souvenirs, photographs, and typed commentary documenting travels by Douglas Pappas on roads across the United States. In order to make the collection easier to use there are archivist supplied volume numbers given to each unique photo album/scrapbook. In total there are 34 travel albums/scrapbooks that make up this portion of the collection. Each travel album/scrapbook is different in that it follows a certain trip, a particular region of the United States, a single highway, or multiple numbered highways. They are in a chronological arrangement beginning with specific 1980s, general 1980s, then specific 1990s, general 1990s, and undated. The scrapbooks/photo albums provide a unique perspective and commentary. There are roadside attractions, monuments, landmarks, postcards, and buildings that are documented in this series.

The postcard collection spans from 1917-1971 and focuses on United States numbered highways 1 through 101, as well as a specific concentration on the Lincoln Highway. There are 6 postcard boxes that make up the entire collection with one devoted to the Lincoln Highway. The collection is arranged by highway number and then by state; a unique number was given next to each state in the finding aid detailing the amount of postcards within that state's section. The subjects on the postcards include buildings and landmarks along the numbered highways. Hotels, motels, motor lodges, inns, bridges, tunnels, restaurants/cafes, attractions, monuments, landscapes, and general greetings are the main topical areas.

For a related collection, the records of the original Lincoln Highway Association can be found in the Transportation History Collection at the University of Michigan Special Collections Library.

Biographical / Historical:

Douglas Pappas was born in 1961; he was a traveler, collector, lawyer, and a huge fan of baseball. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1982 and was a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School in 1985. During his time at the University of Michigan he was also Executive Note Editor of the Law Review. Douglas became an attorney at Mintz and Gold, LLP, in New York City where he specialized in in general civil and commercial litigation. He resided in Hartsdale, New York just outside New York City. In May 2004, at the age of 42 Douglas passed away from heat prostration while vacationing in Big Bend National Park in Texas.

In 1994 he was appointed chairman of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Business of Baseball Committee where he became a nationally recognized authority on the business and economics of baseball. He contributed to Baseball Prospectus, acted as a consultant for ESPN, maintained his own Business of Baseball website, and authored numerous articles on baseball related topics. His work with SABR and passion for baseball can be seen throughout the pages of his travel albums/scrapbooks.

Douglas was also the director of the New York Chapter of the modern Lincoln Highway Association, which was reconstituted in 1992 with a mission to preserve the history and legacy of the Highway. They also promote research, tourism, and public awareness about the Lincoln Highway. Their charter conference was in 1993 and to this day there is an active membership in chapters located in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. The Association produces an official quarterly journal entitled The Lincoln Highway Forum.

The original Lincoln Highway Association was headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and was active from 1911 through the mid-1930s. It was formed by Carl Fisher to plan, fundraise for, and build a highway that would provide the shortest route across the continental United States. Fisher was also behind the creation of the Dixie Highway, a north/south route. Construction on the highway started in 1913 and in the end the highway spanned around 3,389 mi (5,454 km) from Times Square, New York City to San Francisco. Various changes were made to the original route, but many parts still remain in use today.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of Carolyn Reed Pappas, November 2004.

Related

Separated Material:

The original photo albums and duplicates were removed from the collection. The pages from the photo albums were re-housed in folders.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Automobile travel -- United States.
Baseball in America
Lincoln Highway Association -- New Jersey.
Lincoln Highway Association -- New York (State)
Lincoln Highway.
Popular culture -- United States -- 20th century.
Roads -- America.
Social history -- 20th century.
Society for American Baseball Research
Transportation -- History -- 20th century.
Travel photography -- United States.

Formats:

Postcards.
Scrapbooks.
souvenirs