Travel in a Different Era: The George Foster Collection

George M. Foster (1914-2006) was a distinguished anthropologist and, among his many accomplishments, has been called the founder of medical anthropology. It is somewhat surprising then to walk back into the archives and see three boxes and a full filing cabinet attributed to Dr. Foster. He was clearly a man of many passions, one of which included collecting various documents and ephemera relating to steam liners of the 20^th century. The three archive boxes work together to create a very detailed manifest of the biggest and more popular liners. A large catalogue filled with hundreds of detailed entries is only an introduction to the vast amount of information available in this collection. Working in concert with this book are two scrapbooks of postcards, newspaper clippings and reproduced pictures. These images often relate to an entry in the book full of liners, providing more detailed or even color pictures of the numerous ships. All of these books are extremely informative and begin to tell a story of an era when the traveling was an experience in and of itself – a phenomenon that is becoming less and less the case.

Brochures for S.S. Ile de France, moving away from numbered classes.

              Further illustrating this time period in travel is the extensive amount of documents – brochures, menus, deck plans and other ephemera – related to ship lines and occasionally to individual ships. This is a hefty percentage of the collection – there are more than 300 folders filled with these artifacts, spanning the 20^th century and from all around the globe. Ship brochures advertised travel in a way that would, today, only be reserved for a website about a cruise line. These colorful and image-filled documents give the reader a feeling of the atmosphere on a ship as well as a sense of familiarity – the detailed deck plans are sometimes even printed into the brochure booklet. It is often the case in this day and age that one doesn’t spend more than about five minutes choosing their seat on an airline’s website, but it is clear that the process of choosing and purchasing a cabin on a ship was much closer to buying a house or leasing an apartment than it is to modern travel. Advertisers understood this, too. Many of the brochures and pamphlets in this collection refer to one’s “personal palace,” as with the S.S. Empress of Britain, or “making the Ile your home,” in the case of the S.S. Ile de France. Luxury and prestige was key, second only to comfort.

Grouping of items from Foster's voyage on the RMS Queen Mary.

            There is no indication in this collection that George Foster personally traveled on all of the lines and ships for which he collected a file, but there are some to which he did have a personal connection. The R.M.S. Queen Mary (Cunard Line) was one such vessel. The file on this ship is particularly interesting as there are documents from an actual voyage – one on which George Foster and his family traveled in 1961. There is a daily itinerary, including information on specific events, announcements, and puzzles such as one would find in a daily newspaper. Menus from lunch and dinner also indicate restaurant-level quality not only on a daily basis, but also multiple times a day. These menus are for the 2^nd class travelers – which by this time many lines had begun calling “Tourist Class” – and with no 1^st class information, it is difficult to fully know the difference between the two in this case. Despite the fact that Dr. Foster did not travel on every ship about which he has information, there is a personal touch throughout this collection. Notes on specifics of ships throughout the catalogue and handwritten tidbits of information throughout speak to the care and attention to detail these artifacts possess, making these artifacts a critical – and colorful – addition to this museum.

For more information on George Foster, visit: http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/georgemfosterjr.htm