Elaborate and colorful airline labels were in abundance in the golden age of air travel. Their function extended to displaying and conveying the glamour of air travel. The labels themselves, small works of art, also doubled as airline advertisement. The popularity of these labels was at a peak between the 1920s and WWII. After WWII, traveling by air became much more economical, and the appeal and glamour of air travel all but disappeared. For example, in Britain during the war, most airlines became part of the military, when the focus on colorful labels also disappeared. As airlines and routes developed, the use of labels/tags became more utilitarian and focused on tracking and identification. 

For more about this collection, see the Descriptive Finding Guide.