This key opens the front door of the United States Travel Bureau in Washington DC. The key was donated in 1941 by W. Bruce Macnamee, who worked for this department of the government. As someone who worked with National Parks, I'm sure the Baldpate being right next to Rocky Mountain National Park was a great delight for him. He kindly sent the key and encouraged them to visit whenever possible.
The Travel Bureau was started in 1937 as a way to promote National Parks to both US citizens and international visitors. It opened using emergency funds and the founders hoped Congress would legitimize it with a budget, which they did by 1940. The Bureau was used to promote American tourism by publishing pamphlets and also attending fairs to encourage people to explore their own country. A lot of now retro posters of National Parks used for marketing back then were created by this Bureau and some are still used as marketing tools today.
Unfortunately, World War II would be the demise of the Travel Bureau, as it would not make it into the fiscal budget of 1942, signalling its end by 1943. Though it was short lived, the Travel Bureau sparked a love of cross country exploration in the American people that would persist until even today.
Today, the Bureau of Consular Affairs is the modern day equivalent and functions in a similar way that the Travel Bureau did. It was started in 1979 and has some of the original functions that the Travel Bureau had but also encompasses a lot more.
There's so many interesting keys like this one in our collection, so head on up to our key room and take a look around for yourself! In the past two years we've been working on a new feature in our key room so you can learn about our keys if there's not a curator present! Just download a QR code reader and then scan the codes by different keys and it'll take you to a blog post just like this one!
Written by: Victoria Witkowski, Museum Curator
Source Used
Everglades
Garden of the Gods
