Antique 1904 Rex Parade Bulletin. 1904 parade theme: In The Realm of Imagination. Framed. Newspaper bulletin. About the bulletin: Among the most sought-after reminders of the “Golden Age of Carnival” are parade bulletins — beautiful presentations of each year’s themes and float designs. “Parade papers” or bulletins, with images of each float and notes describing the parade theme and float titles, helped the public anticipate and enjoy each parade, and preserved memories of those parades long after their brief time on the parade route and their return to the den. Much of what we know of early Rex parades, themes, and float designs we learn from parade bulletins. Early versions of “parade papers” consisted of black and white engravings of float designs printed in newspapers along with descriptions of each parade, but these quickly evolved into more elaborate presentations. According to Carnival historian Henri Schindler, larger “broadside” sheets soon appeared with float sketches on one side and advertisements and float descriptions on the reverse. By 1886, these large-scale masterpieces of chromolithography were popular keepsakes of Carnival parades. Newspapers competed for contracts to print each organization’s parade bulletin. According to Schindler, “These ten-cent bulletins have assumed an importance that could not have been imagined when they were produced. Because so few collections of original float and costume designs have survived, these lithographs became the visual record of the great processions, picturing every float from 1877 until the bulletins were discontinued in 1941.”

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42.5 x 28.25 in