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Bumpers and Decals
June Town Hall Exhibit 2025
The June 2025 exhibit features objects in the JHS collection that are seldom exhibited and tells the story from the time of horse-drawn carriages to today of this popular form of print advertising.
Bumper stickers and decals are among today’s most popular forms of print advertising.
In the horse-drawn carriage era, advertisers printed the name of a business on horsefly nets. In the 1930s and 1940s, bumper signs were printed on metal or cardboard and wired to chrome bumpers. Developments in material manufacturing during World War II led to the modern bumper sticker. Daylight fluorescent inks were developed for wartime use and were popular with early bumper sticker manufacturers. Developments in adhesive materials led to the production of paper strips with adhesive on the back. Increased use of vinyl after the war led to the eventual use of this material in bumper stickers.
What we call decals are really a form of sticker, often placed on glass so the image is seen through the glass. True decals actually transfer the image – like a temporary tattoo – rather than simply pasting the words or image onto the underlying material.
Exhibit prepared by Sue Maden, Sarah Mikolay and Rosemary Enright.
Please consider donating your Jamestown Memorabilia to the Jamestown Historical Society.
Contact Sue Maden at 401-644-3009 or suemaden@gmail.com
Become a JHS Member
Help preserve & share the history of Jamestown, RI. Maintain the Museum, the Windmill, the Meetinghouse and the Conanicut Battery. Preserve the Society’s collection of documents, photographs and artifacts.
