World War Two poster urging people not to travel for their vacation, so as to keep space on trains for servicemen.
I don't know if anyone has ever written a history of vacations, let alone vacations in the US as a (dieing) institution, but somebody should. Indeed, it'd make a good topic for a book, albeit a book I'd be unlikely to read myself.
There are a lot of various concepts of what a vacation even means, and we can certainly say that they aren't something that, for the most part, stretch into vast antiquity, at least as we presently understand them, for most people. Of course, for most they probably weren't needed either. Still, there are surprising antecedents here and there.
America, and by that we can say the whole of North America, started off as an agrarian society. Agrarians don't take a lot of vacations, and of course in the 18th Century you couldn't have taken a modern type vacation if you'd wanted to. It isn't like you could hop in the car and drive to the beach or something. But that doesn't mean that these societies were without something sort of akin to a holiday.
For the wealthy there were a seasonal migration at that time. Or a series of them. A pretty good description of this, no doubt taken from actual life, is given in Pride and Prejudice. In that book we see the wealthy from the cities relocate in the Spring to their estate, to be followed by some sort of big ball, and depart again in the Fall, living in the city during the winter. And, as the book relates, various balls and festivals occur throughout the year. That's probably fairly accurate, and describes at least life in upper class Europe at the time. War and Peace, set in the same period, shows something similar for 18th and early 19th Century Russia. Now, of course, that sort of life would not describe anything approaching what most people experienced at the time, but it does give us more of clue than we might suppose. For one thing, it shows the highly seasonal nature of life at the time, driven, in part, by the agricultural year and also, in part, by the Liturgical Calendar. Even for common farming peoples this would have had an impact. There would have been gatherings of various types associated with the yearly rhythm of farming, and some of these would have been associated with what amounts to a big party. That's still the case for rural people today. Brandings, for example, in the West occur in the Spring and nearly all of them are followed by a party immediately thereafter. As branding season is, in fact, a season, that means that from some point in late April through early June there's a lot of such events. Shipping, which occurs in the Fall, is similar.
In earlier days harvesting was a major such occasion. And it had a religious expression as well in that Thanksgiving was a Holiday in the true sense. A day that was holy, in that it was for giving thanks to God for the harvest. It wasn't the only such day, of course. All over the Christian world holidays were Holy Days, with many being Holy Days of Obligation. In addition to the services of the day, there would typically be gatherings. As travel was slow and arduous, and in some times of the year climatically dangerous, those events could stretch over a period of days.
Religious Holidays were indeed quite big events in some communities; tracing that feature back to the early history of the Church. Big events like Christmas and Easter saw people on the road quite often. But significant Saints days, for certain communities, took on a festive air. St. Patrick's Day is still with us in that fashion, although it's tended to loose it's religious theme for most revelers. Carnival, i.e., Marti Gras ("Fat Tuesday)" is likewise associated with a religious event, that event being the beginning of Lent. Like St. Patrick's Day, it's lost is religious meaning in the modern world and probably many revellers don't even know that it has one, although
Not that there wasn't some touring in the pre automobile days, even by those who were not fantastically wealthy. B. B. Brooks gives a good account in his biography of a hunting trip that took him and his family from Converse County Wyoming up to near Lander, in Fremont County, Wyoming. It was quite the trip, and involved a lot of fishing, but they did undertake it. Brooks became a wealthy man, but at that time he was really just starting to enjoy financial success as a Wyoming rancher.
Theodore Roosevelt gives another good account of such a trip, a hunting trip, in one of his Collier's articles. Roosevelt, of course, was well to do, but he was not fantastically wealthy as some imagine. Both of these involved a period of weeks. Another such a trip was set out a few years ago in an Wyoming Wildlife article, about an early Wyoming naturalist who undertook a local trip of that type into Yellowstone National Park. That particular family was not wealthy at all. What characterizes all of these trips, of course, is time. They were conducted by means of common to the people who engaged in them, i.e., horse and wagon, but the real luxury these people had, as we'd view it, was ample time.
For the really wealthy, a big tour of that era could be undertaken of course. Using the Roosevelt's again, but looking at the period of T. R.'s youth, his family did a grand tour of the Middle East and Europe. I'd stated a moment ago, of course, that T. R. was well to do, but not fantastically wealthy (he actually had monetary concerns to some extent for much of his life) and I'd note that this was a trip undertaken with his parents. His father was quite well to do. And you can find examples in the 19th Century of people undertaking big tours in North America. As an odd example, a few of the very few non Indian casualties of the Nez Perce attempt to flea to Canada were members of a party vacationing in Yellowstone.
Those are all week long trips, but local trips of that type did occur. The "picnic", sort of a day off in the country, was a fairly pronounced 19th Century miniature "holiday" for example.
Religious Holidays were indeed quite big events in some communities; tracing that feature back to the early history of the Church. Big events like Christmas and Easter saw people on the road quite often. But significant Saints days, for certain communities, took on a festive air. St. Patrick's Day is still with us in that fashion, although it's tended to loose it's religious theme for most revelers. Carnival, i.e., Marti Gras ("Fat Tuesday)" is likewise associated with a religious event, that event being the beginning of Lent. Like St. Patrick's Day, it's lost is religious meaning in the modern world and probably many revellers don't even know that it has one, although
Not that there wasn't some touring in the pre automobile days, even by those who were not fantastically wealthy. B. B. Brooks gives a good account in his biography of a hunting trip that took him and his family from Converse County Wyoming up to near Lander, in Fremont County, Wyoming. It was quite the trip, and involved a lot of fishing, but they did undertake it. Brooks became a wealthy man, but at that time he was really just starting to enjoy financial success as a Wyoming rancher.
Paintings depicting vacationing Japanese circa 1855. The vacation isn't unique to Europeans and North Americans.
Theodore Roosevelt gives another good account of such a trip, a hunting trip, in one of his Collier's articles. Roosevelt, of course, was well to do, but he was not fantastically wealthy as some imagine. Both of these involved a period of weeks. Another such a trip was set out a few years ago in an Wyoming Wildlife article, about an early Wyoming naturalist who undertook a local trip of that type into Yellowstone National Park. That particular family was not wealthy at all. What characterizes all of these trips, of course, is time. They were conducted by means of common to the people who engaged in them, i.e., horse and wagon, but the real luxury these people had, as we'd view it, was ample time.
For the really wealthy, a big tour of that era could be undertaken of course. Using the Roosevelt's again, but looking at the period of T. R.'s youth, his family did a grand tour of the Middle East and Europe. I'd stated a moment ago, of course, that T. R. was well to do, but not fantastically wealthy (he actually had monetary concerns to some extent for much of his life) and I'd note that this was a trip undertaken with his parents. His father was quite well to do. And you can find examples in the 19th Century of people undertaking big tours in North America. As an odd example, a few of the very few non Indian casualties of the Nez Perce attempt to flea to Canada were members of a party vacationing in Yellowstone.
Those are all week long trips, but local trips of that type did occur. The "picnic", sort of a day off in the country, was a fairly pronounced 19th Century miniature "holiday" for example.
1896 Calendar depicting a rather boozy picnic in the works.
And there were other such outings by that era. Trips to the beach, or some local wild lands. Hunting trips. The track.
It wasn't until the industrial era that we really began to get, however, the modern concept of a vacation. Industrial life changed everything for people, and that had a lot to do with it. It's popular to note that there must have been something advantageous to people about the industrial life, as so many rural people moved off the countryside into the cities to engage in it, and in developing parts of the world they still do, but what might be missed about that is that economic conditions in any one era force a lot of people into their work conditions and, by extension, their places of residence. In the modern world nothing gives better evidence of that than the fact that what a lot of people do as soon as they retire is to abandon the place they've lived for decades and take off to one which they declare they always wanted to live in. And it's hard to believe that anyone's real desire is to work in a cubicle, but a lot of people, including highly educated people, do.
Indeed, as a total aside, and the topic of an upcoming post, after I started this post, a month ago, Gallup released a poll finding that a whopping 70% of Americans "hate" their jobs. In looking up the poll, I found that its findings had been exaggerated in the headlines, and actually 70% reported that they were "disengaged" from their jobs. But still, that's extremely disturbing. It might say something about the need to take vacations, however. It probably says more about that than many of the professional reactions on how to ensure workplace engagement at any rate.
It wasn't until the industrial era that we really began to get, however, the modern concept of a vacation. Industrial life changed everything for people, and that had a lot to do with it. It's popular to note that there must have been something advantageous to people about the industrial life, as so many rural people moved off the countryside into the cities to engage in it, and in developing parts of the world they still do, but what might be missed about that is that economic conditions in any one era force a lot of people into their work conditions and, by extension, their places of residence. In the modern world nothing gives better evidence of that than the fact that what a lot of people do as soon as they retire is to abandon the place they've lived for decades and take off to one which they declare they always wanted to live in. And it's hard to believe that anyone's real desire is to work in a cubicle, but a lot of people, including highly educated people, do.
Indeed, as a total aside, and the topic of an upcoming post, after I started this post, a month ago, Gallup released a poll finding that a whopping 70% of Americans "hate" their jobs. In looking up the poll, I found that its findings had been exaggerated in the headlines, and actually 70% reported that they were "disengaged" from their jobs. But still, that's extremely disturbing. It might say something about the need to take vacations, however. It probably says more about that than many of the professional reactions on how to ensure workplace engagement at any rate.
The conditions of industrial employment changed the nature of daily work for a large majority of people in the industrial world, over time. Working conditions became oppressive for many people by their nature, but after a time, it came to be the case that people, both blue collar and white collar, had sufficient surplus income in order to take a little time off. As things progressed, the ability to take that time off evolved into a right. This was quite an evolution from a world in which people in a "master servant" relationship generally worked six days a week, about twelve hours a day. It's easy to forget now, but the change to a more endurable work day, and a five day work week, combined ultimately with some vacation time off, was a triumph of organized labor in North America. Other Western nations saw this development too, and a week or more off became the norm in many of them.
Even with the Great Depression, in the US a traveling vacation, or at least a trip to somewhere near, had become quite common, the combination of the collective impact of the automobile, organized labors efforts, and the impact of an increasing degree of wealth. People began to travel for vacation. Travel by train for long trips was the norm, but even long drives by automobile became very common.
Post war, the concept of a vacation was fully entrenched. The introduction of air travel slowly gave rise to some really long distance traveling. Travel was very expensive at first. When it was first introduced in the 1920s long distance air travel was very expensive indeed. But by the 1960s it was starting to come down and became inexpensive enough that flights to Hawaii or Europe became affordable for middle class Americans. That accelerated a phenomenon that was already occurring, that being being the development of "tourist areas" or even "tourist traps" and also the "tourist industry."
The tourist industry, I'd note, is a big deal for Wyoming, even though I don't think most Wyomingites really realize it, unless they're directly involved in it. Tourism is a pretty big sector of our economy here, probably falling in right after oil and gas exploration. That tourism would become a major industry for a state really says something about the evolution of tourism. If we went back a s century we'd find areas where tourism was pretty significant, say various East Coast beaches, or certain communities here and there, but to have it be a big deal for a state, and it is a big deal for several states, would have been pretty much inconceivable. That people would take trips to distant states, such as Alaska or Hawaii, and that such tourism would really matter to those states, would have been completely unimaginable. And that American would routinely travel abroad to such localities as Europe, New Zealand or Australia would not have even crossed people's minds.
With all this being the case, you would think that vacations had become so fully part of the American culture as they have, for example, in the French culture. But not so. Amazingly, vacations are on the decline, a product of an increasingly difficult market for workers, globalization, and probably just the American "work ethic." Real wages are also declining. Now, we find, a majority of Americans do not take the full amount of vacation that they're entitled to, and indeed many take none. I've frequently been in the "none" category myself.
This isn't good. Vacations serve a natural desire to satisfy our curiosity about one thing or another, but in other ways, they serve to reconnect us with a more natural condition which we instinctively crave, that being the ability to be in nature, or see its wonders, or just have fun with our family and fellows. To forgo them puts people in a pretty grim situation. And a general decline in what seemingly had become an institution is a disturbing tread.
Satiric effort by Puck, depicting a stylish young woman on vacation, with various men attempting to photograph the "scenery" according to the caption. Not only had vacations become common, but the snapshot as well.
Even with the Great Depression, in the US a traveling vacation, or at least a trip to somewhere near, had become quite common, the combination of the collective impact of the automobile, organized labors efforts, and the impact of an increasing degree of wealth. People began to travel for vacation. Travel by train for long trips was the norm, but even long drives by automobile became very common.
Puck, in 1914, making fun in the Innocents Abroad type of way.
Post war, the concept of a vacation was fully entrenched. The introduction of air travel slowly gave rise to some really long distance traveling. Travel was very expensive at first. When it was first introduced in the 1920s long distance air travel was very expensive indeed. But by the 1960s it was starting to come down and became inexpensive enough that flights to Hawaii or Europe became affordable for middle class Americans. That accelerated a phenomenon that was already occurring, that being being the development of "tourist areas" or even "tourist traps" and also the "tourist industry."
The tourist industry, I'd note, is a big deal for Wyoming, even though I don't think most Wyomingites really realize it, unless they're directly involved in it. Tourism is a pretty big sector of our economy here, probably falling in right after oil and gas exploration. That tourism would become a major industry for a state really says something about the evolution of tourism. If we went back a s century we'd find areas where tourism was pretty significant, say various East Coast beaches, or certain communities here and there, but to have it be a big deal for a state, and it is a big deal for several states, would have been pretty much inconceivable. That people would take trips to distant states, such as Alaska or Hawaii, and that such tourism would really matter to those states, would have been completely unimaginable. And that American would routinely travel abroad to such localities as Europe, New Zealand or Australia would not have even crossed people's minds.
With all this being the case, you would think that vacations had become so fully part of the American culture as they have, for example, in the French culture. But not so. Amazingly, vacations are on the decline, a product of an increasingly difficult market for workers, globalization, and probably just the American "work ethic." Real wages are also declining. Now, we find, a majority of Americans do not take the full amount of vacation that they're entitled to, and indeed many take none. I've frequently been in the "none" category myself.
This isn't good. Vacations serve a natural desire to satisfy our curiosity about one thing or another, but in other ways, they serve to reconnect us with a more natural condition which we instinctively crave, that being the ability to be in nature, or see its wonders, or just have fun with our family and fellows. To forgo them puts people in a pretty grim situation. And a general decline in what seemingly had become an institution is a disturbing tread.
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