Courtesy of Lisa Garrett, all rights reserved
Collection: Gone, But Not Forgotten
Location: Pasadena, Texas,
Time Period: Unknown Decade, 1900's
Type style: sans serif
Materials and methods: electric, metal and neon
Purpose: advertisement, decoration and identification

Addtional Information: This once beautiful movie theater is decorated with wonderful neon channel letters. The interior of the theater is decorated in an Art Deco style. There is a movement to restore and preserve its beauty. There is a possibility that it will be torn down soon.

Help Build Our Collections

Throughout history lettering and type have been used on buildings and signs, surrounding us with visible words -- messages aimed at the common man. These signs reflect the character and activities of a neighborhood. Advertising on buildings give insight into how people lived: the products they used, the popular vocabulary of their time. Variations in materials and form reveal each generation's fascination with new technology.

But lettering and type in signage and on buildings get lost over time. Change of building use, the elements, and restoration decisions have led to the disappearance of decades of type history—and by extension a valuable component of the histories of architecture, advertising, industry, and society.

Submit an image to any of our collections. Tell us as much as you can about the lettering, materials, time period and location of the signs. If you do not know specific information, that's OK! Tell us as much as you can, and our editors will update unknown information.

Help document this ubiquitous, yet ephemeral history of lettering and type.

A community-based image database, dedicated to collecting, documenting, and preserving images of type and lettering on old signs and buildings in the United States.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

This collection holds images of type and lettering on old signs and buildings that no longer exist. Change of building use, the elements, and restoration decisions have led to the removal of signs, and thus the disappearance of decades of type history.