Dig­i­tiz­ing The Sub­way Sun and The Ele­vated Express

“No More Stand­ing In Line”, “New Tun­nel to Brook­lyn”, “The Shrunken Nickel”…These are a few of the head­lines in The Sub­way Sun and The Ele­vated Express which pas­sen­gers read while rid­ing on sub­way cars or ele­vated trains of the Inter­bor­ough Rapid Tran­sit Com­pany, New York City’s first sub­way sys­tem, in the early twen­ti­eth cen­tury. A col­lec­tion of 385 sub­way posters from the Inter­bor­ough Rapid Tran­sit Com­pany has been dig­i­tized and is avail­able on the Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Library Dig­i­tal Col­lec­tions web­site: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/ns064606d The orig­i­nal prints are a part of the Ivy Lee Papers housed and main­tained at the See­ley G. Mudd Man­u­script Library. The posters doc­u­ment devel­op­ments in New York City tran­sit and make a part of early adver­tis­ing his­tory avail­able online.

The Inter­bor­ough Rapid Tran­sit Com­pany, also known as IRT, opened in 1904 in New York City. In 1916, IRT hired Ivy Led­bet­ter Lee, a lead­ing pub­lic rela­tions spe­cial­ist and mem­ber of the Prince­ton Class of 1898, to pro­mote the com­pany over its new com­peti­tor, the Brooklyn-Manhattan Tran­sit Com­pany (BMT). Cen­tral to the adver­tis­ing cam­paign were two series of posters called The Sub­way Sun and The Ele­vated Express, which appeared con­cur­rently. The posters imple­mented Ivy Lee’s inno­v­a­tive adver­tis­ing phi­los­o­phy to edu­cate and inform by com­mu­ni­cat­ing directly with pas­sen­gers, and to present facts and sta­tis­tics instead of rhetoric. Sev­eral of the early posters are mes­sages from IRT Pres­i­dent Theodore P. Shonts. The mes­sage titled “Coal for Your Ser­vice” (1919) pro­vided exact fig­ures show­ing an 84 per cent increase in the cost of coal from 1916 to 1919. Other posters addressed press­ing issues such as the rise in oper­at­ing costs, con­ges­tion, and the need for a fare increase. In “All other prices have been going up” from 1925, a graphic by illus­tra­tor C.E. Mil­lard depicted the ris­ing price of food, rent, mate­ri­als and wages in oppo­si­tion to the sta­tic five-cent sub­way fare.

Mar­keted as “The World’s Safest Rail­road”, IRT often pub­li­cized safety and the devel­op­ment of time and labor sav­ing devices. “No More Stand­ing In Line” (1921) fea­tured the new “Feather-Weight Pres­sure” Gate, which reduced the time spent wait­ing in line at the gates and the need for extra booth oper­a­tors. Another issue, “Fire Proof” (1921), informed pas­sen­gers that every part of the sub­way was fire­proof from the sub­way cars to the stairs.

The series began in 1918 and lasted until the company’s decline in 1932, span­ning major U.S. events such as World War I and the Great Depres­sion. The third issue of The Sub­way Sun, titled “The Call to War” (1918), included a pub­lic ser­vice announce­ment noti­fy­ing every man between the ages of 18 and 45 that he must reg­is­ter for the Draft. The posters also served as a way of announc­ing ser­vice changes or travel tips and of pro­mot­ing New York City’s local attrac­tions. The series called “Time Savers” (1925) pro­vided maps with routes that helped pas­sen­gers avoid delays of street traf­fic. “Ride on the “L” and See New York” (1929) encour­aged rid­ers to enjoy the fresh air and sun­light on the ele­vated trains while view­ing the sites of the City.

To learn more about the IRT Sub­way Posters, lis­ten to the Online Gallery Talk -

“The World’s Safest Rail­road” How Ivy Lee Pro­moted New York’s Sub­way Sys­tem, 1916–1932 avail­able on the New York Tran­sit Museum website:

http://www.transitmuseumeducation.org/100/schedule.html#ivylee