In the summer of 1919, after 23 years in operation, the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co. (T.M.E.R. & L.Co.) decided to switch from a cash fare for individual rides to a weekly pass on their trolley network. It proved to be a smart move – the public loved them. For the next ten years, the tickets issued were pretty bland. However, in 1930 they created an in-house production department and began designing and printing their own passes. These new tickets became more exciting and colourful – incorporating illustrations, public announcements and local event information.
A collection of these expressive tickets now resides at the Letterform Archives in San Francisco. “They follow a fairly consistent design program of large hand-drawn numbers for the week of the year, lettering for the valid range of dates, and small-print information set in type, all functionally decorated with jaunty banners, frames, and rules, says archive curator Stephen Coles.”
Over the years, things evolved. In an effort to stem occasional counterfeiting, T.M.E.R. & L.Co. included foil stamping on the passes, giving the popular transfers even more appeal. This handsome collection is a reminder of the pre-digital age, when printed ephemera was more prevalent, giving personality, pizzazz and variety to everyday products and services.