Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

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.

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.