Civilization's Progress card, Vernal, UT, circa 1948

Subjects: Comics & Humor Novelty & Mechanical Cards
Card type: Other
Date: c. 1948 (Chrome)

Back of Civilization's Progress card, Vernal, UT, circa 1948, c. 1948 other postcard — Back

About this postcard

A novelty souvenir card from the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal, Utah, charts "Civilization's Progress" as a timeline of weapons, each paired with a kill count. It runs from the club at "slugging distance" and the spear through the atlatl, bow and arrow, sword, muzzle loader, repeating rifle, and machine gun, ending with the atom bomb at "height of civilization" and 50,000 kills before "civilization makes a new start" at 1. Small line drawings illustrate each entry. The atom bomb reference places the card after 1945, and the museum it advertises opened in Vernal in 1948, in the dinosaur fossil country of eastern Utah. The crack about gunpowder, invented by the Chinese and used by them "only for fire crackers," gives the piece its mid-century Cold War tone, dark humor packaged as a roadside souvenir.

Postcard Details

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CIVILIZATION'S PROGRESS (As Illustrated By Man's Weapons) CIVILIZATION "ADVANCES" WITH MAN'S ABILITY TO KILL HIS FELLOWMAN THE CLUB (SLUGGING DISTANCE) KILLS 1 THE SPEAR RANGE 100 FEET KILLS 1 THE ATLATL (SPEAR THROWER) RANGE 200 FEET KILLS 1 THE BOW AND ARROW RANGE 300 FEET KILLS 1 THE SWORD (IN HAND COMBAT) KILLS 1 GUN POWDER. INVENTED BY THE CHINESE. USED BY THEM ONLY FOR FIRE CRACKERS. (THEY WERE HEATHEN AND "UNCIVILIZED") A LOST "OPPORTUNITY" THE MUZZLE LOADER RANGE 300 FEET NIP AND TUCK WITH BOW AND ARROW KILLS 1 THE REPEATING RIFLE RANGE 1 MILE KILLS 10 THE MACHINE GUN (FAIRLY CLOSE RANGE) KILLS 100 THE ATOM BOMB (HEIGHT OF CIVILIZATION) KILLS 50,000 CIVILIZATION MAKES A NEW START KILLS 1 SOUVENIR OF UTAH FIELD HOUSE OF NATURAL HISTORY

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Postcard record

Series	SX-1663
Condition	Very good
Place mentioned	Utah Field House of Natural History, Vernal, UT
Notes	Thin black rule border around the printed panel; small stain near top center; no white border or photo texture. No postmark. Undated, unused divided-back Kodak photo post card; address side blank apart from dealer/collector pencil marks "#59" and "1-" in the lower right corner. Artist signature "Osborne" and number "2X-1663" printed at lower right of the front panel. Light foxing/soiling spots on the cream stock.

Cite this card

Civilization's Progress card, Vernal, UT, circa 1948, postcard, c. 1948. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/civilizations-progress-card-vernal-ut-circa-1948. Accessed November 2, 2026.