Laubscher’s 1930 Road Odyssey

This 1930 silent reel, Laubscher Collection: Transcontinental Trip, 1930, captures a family’s cross-country trek in black-and-white 16mm. From Ramona’s Marriage Place in California, it rolls through a tunnel POV, past Coolidge Dam near Globe, Arizona, with cars parked atop and pans of its expanse. Driving POVs cross a Mississippi River bridge from Missouri to Illinois, then pan Chicago’s skyline from the Museum of Science and Industry, catching a Shriners parade. Two in rain hoist “From Sunny California” signs, followed by Niagara Falls, Atlantic City glimpses, and Washington, DC—shots from the Washington Monument, Capitol, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Ford’s Theater. It climbs Pike’s Peak Auto Road, with a Zebulon Pike plaque and summit views, weaving a rich 1930s travel tapestry.