Red Jacket Motel Elmira NY Letterhead c1950s Native American Tomahawk Ad For Sale

This piece of commercial stationery originates from the Red Jacket Motel, a roadside accommodation located in Elmira, Chemung County, New York. The letterhead is printed on an off-white or cream-colored paper stock that exhibits the gentle toning characteristic of mid-twentieth-century ephemera, with two distinct horizontal fold lines indicating it was once folded into thirds for mailing in a standard business envelope. The motel’s name appears in a bold red script font at the upper left, while the upper right presents a concise list of amenities in a grey sans-serif typeface, including “FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST and TELEVISION” and “ALL ROOMS AIR CONDITIONED.” These selling points situate the motel within the post-World War II era of expanding automobile travel, when such features were emerging as competitive differentiators for roadside lodgings. The address directs travelers to “6 MILES EAST OF ELMIRA ON ROUTE 17,” with a post office box in Elmira, New York, placing the motel along a major regional thoroughfare that connected the Southern Tier to the broader New York State highway network.The most visually distinctive element is a red illustration in the lower left corner depicting a Native American figure in traditional attire, holding a tomahawk. This image almost certainly represents Sagoyewatha, the renowned Seneca orator and chief known as Red Jacket, after whom the motel was named. Such iconography was common in mid-century American advertising, often reflecting romanticized portrayals of Indigenous figures that drew upon regional history and folklore to create a memorable brand identity. The illustration is rendered in a flat, stylized manner consistent with commercial printing techniques of the period, likely using offset lithography or letterpress. No handwritten inscriptions, date stamps, or postal markings appear on the sheet, suggesting this example remained unused as a blank piece of stationery. As a document of roadside commerce, the letterhead captures a moment when motels were evolving from simple tourist cabins into full-service establishments, competing for travelers through promises of modern comforts and distinctive thematic branding rooted in local heritage.