WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

Ocean liner travel became fashionable at end of the 19th century, and the steamship lines went all out promoting their services, hiring artists to create images of speed, reliability, safety, comfort, luxury, fun, and fantasy in print advertising and fetching images of poster art. Author and former PONY Branch Chairman Ted Scull showed us some of the evocative posters in his collection, a dozen or so that decorate the walls of his apartment, and others that he has photographed over the years. Also shown were images of ocean liner memorabilia including enticing brochures, striking menus with some strange food selections, detailed deck plans, ship models, and other items from the recent Peabody Essex ocean liner exhibition “Glamour, Speed and Style” in Salem, Massachusetts, which later transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and then to the V & A’s new annex in Dundee, Scotland.