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Primary Source Sets
Pop Art in the US
A 1953 postcard of Ray’s, a drive-in on US Highway 40 near Reno, Nevada.

A 1953 postcard of Ray’s, a drive-in on US Highway 40 near Reno, Nevada.

The popularity of drive-ins and motels in the 1950s underscores the importance of the automobile in these years. As both a mode of transportation and a status symbol, cars—new, shiny, and fast—came to reflect a national identity, rooted in the vast expanses of the American landscape and the freedom of the open road.

Citation Information
“Ray's Drive In near Reno, Nevada, circa 1953,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/f5f2ac2a8635958a931f69b7704e61ce.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of University of Nevada, Reno, University Libraries via Mountain West Digital Library.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 14 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Pop Art in the US

Previous ItemNext Item
A press release for Jasper Johns’s 1958 exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York.
A photograph of the gallery owner Leo Castelli in an exhibition of Jasper Johns’s work, 1958.
A window display at the Bonwit Teller department store with artwork by Robert Rauschenberg, 1957.
A letter from Roy Lichtenstein with comic book pages, 1963.
A photograph of artworks installed in The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein, a 1995 exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Ed Ruscha’s poster for the Pasadena Museum of Art’s 1962 exhibition New Painting of Common Objects.
Excerpt from a 2011 oral history interview with Ed Ruscha about modern art in Los Angeles.
A 1965 photograph of a Coca-Cola Company promotion at a bottling plant.
A 1962 photograph of Andy Warhol’s Green Coca-Cola Bottles screenprint.
Andy Warhol’s 1964 lithograph, Marilyn Monroe I Love Your Kiss Forever Forever, from 1¢ Life.
Tom Wesselmann’s 1962 collage Still Life (#12).
An excerpt from a statement made in a US House of Representatives subcommittee hearing regarding a national highway system, 1956.
The cover of the General Motors Corporation’s magazine, GM Folks, advertising the 1956 Cadillac.
A 1953 postcard of Ray’s, a drive-in on US Highway 40 near Reno, Nevada.
Allan D’Arcangelo’s 1963 work, June Moon.

These sets were created and reviewed by teachers. Explore resources and ideas for Using DPLA's Primary Source Sets in your classroom.

To give feedback, contact us at info@dp.la. You can also view resources for National History Day.

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