Clipper Cards

 


Today's Clipper card



Clipper card 1859, from Clipper Ship Sailing Cards, p. 119





  Today's Clipper cards are electronic passes to San Francisco Bay Area public transit services and sport a streamlined, iconic suggestion of a clipper ship, but clipper cards of the mid-19th century served a different function and were much more elaborate in their artistic details. Also known as "sailing cards," clipper ship cards advertised specific voyages--mostly from New York and Boston to San Francisco--and featured the then-new technology of color printing. Clipper Ship Sailing Cards by Bruce D. Roberts reproduces dozens of these cards, while outlining the history of clipper ships, the evolution of clipper ship cards and the elements of their printing, and surveying the printers and engravers. 



 Visit the San Francisco History Center during our open hours to look at Clipper Ship Sailing Cards for yourself.

Painting of clipper ship "Shooting Star" [n.d.]. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.