November 4, 2022

Amanda Kramp, Assistant Curator of Collections & Exhibits

‘Tis the season for travel! Have you been on a plane or a train, or a cross-country bus ride? If so, chances are you put tags on your suitcases so that you and the transportation company can easily find your bags. You may have used the paper ones provided by the airline or maybe a really nice leather identification tag that you received as a gift. These metal baggage tags serve a similar purpose!

Each set of two tags would be assigned to a traveler so they could correctly identify their bag at the end of their journey. These tags are based on an earlier railroad luggage management system. They date to the 1920s and are from the Pickwick Stage System and Shasta Transit Company, both operated here in Redding. Shasta Transit Company started in 1921 and ran between Sacramento and Redding and eventually all the way to the Oregon border. Around 1923, they established routes from Redding to Viola and Red Bluff to Mineral for folks who wanted to visit Lassen Park.

Pickwick Stage System acquired the company in 1926. Pickwick Stage System started in 1915 with one vehicle in San Diego. Eventually, they operated up and down the West Coast and as far east as New York. The Pickwick Company was wildly successful, operating not only stage lines but a theater, hotel, two radio stations, an airline, and its own factories. In 1929, the Pickwick Corporation merged with thirteen other stage lines, and Pacific Greyhound Lines, Inc. was formed.

To learn more about this artifact, visit the Artifact of the Month exhibit inside the Museum entrance at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. We hope to see you soon!