Among the Archives: May 2008 Archives

Before 1999, we promoted the Seminar entirely on paper– in magazine and newspaper ads, through direct mail, and on 11"x17" posters. At present, there's scant online record of the Seminar at all before 1994, and only a text listing of the panelists for the years 1994-1999. We're working to fix that. Above, posters from 1988, '89, and '92. We're building pages for all years prior to 1999, featuring these classic posters. They won't be fancy, they'll stick to the facts. We'll let you know as they're ready.

1991 marked our first foray into full-color printing. Techniques had yet to attain today's precision, and the resulting promotional literature bore serendipitous irregularities. As in life, the sunset on each of these 5"x7" postcards varies widely— from an almost entirely chartreuse haze, to a nearly-complete spectrum that steps from red in the upper altitudes, to a flash of green, to deep blue sea. Our trusty logo was perhaps never more at home than it is against this unpredictable backdrop, where ingredients and intent are only suggestions toward a result.

John Malcolm Brinnin delivered the keynote address that year, "Travel and The Sense of Wonder," in which he said:

Some of the soupiest travel writing on record has been done by moonstruck impressionists aspiring to literature; some of the best by close observers aiming to convey no more than pertinent information, a credible economic or sociological overview, a guidebook devoid of Chamber of Commerce soufflé.

Touché, John Malcom. We've got a few of these cards lying around, reader. If you'd like to start a collection, email me with your mailing address, and I'll post one your way before sundown.