From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
LB2016.13.54
Color negative of Chief Poolaw's Tepee Gift Shop, Old Town, Maine. Mid-century brought about a plethora of roadside kitsch on American tourist routes. Competing for the motorist's eye amongst the growing number of commercial attractions often determined the design and name of a roadside business. In this case, a vague appropriation of Native American culture so as to evoke some picturesque idea of the past resulted in a wood shingled teepee and totem poles. The appeal to children who might prevail upon their parents to stop in was also behind the spread of such structures as the American family took to the highways for vacations.
