Arizona is proud to have one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World"the Grand Canyon. With the arrival of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroad in the early 20th century, the development of the canyon began in earnest. The railroads, along with the Santa Fes business partner, the Fred Harvey Company, greatly promoted the Grand Canyon as a tourist destination through books, pamphlets, and magazine advertisements. On February 26, 1919, Congress established the Grand Canyon National Park, and the federal government became a promoter of the Grand Canyon, too. But perhaps the best promoters of the Grand Canyon were the people who wrote home on picture postcards telling their friends and families about the amazing canyon. A number of the postcards published about the park can be found within the pages of this book.

Thomas Alan Ratz has been a resident of Grand Canyon National Park for 29 years. He has collected hundreds of pieces of memorabilia, books, photographs, postcards, and menus. He has a great fondness for the history of the El Tovar Hotel and was a presenter at the hotel's centenary celebration in 2006. This volume includes more than 225 historic postcards from his personal collection.