Greetings From

Today another jaunt into ephemera. You know those vintage postcards with the big tacky letters spelling out a place name, each filled with pictures? I have to admit, growing up I thought those were just made-up, simply kitschy takes on past trends. I still find it amusing that they're absolutely not. They were a big thing for a long time--every random, tiny little American town had one. Like much of the popular art summarily dismissed as kitsch, their tackiness to modern eyes and adherence to format conceals a variety of individual takes and creative flair. 

Also, they're just fun. 

Postcards from the mid-20th C, drawn from the endlessly rewarding postcard collection of the Boston Public Library.

Boston Public Library

Ashbury Park, N. J. Source

Boston Public Library

Galveston, Texas. Source

Boston Public Library

Spokane, Washington. Source

The San Francisco Earthquake, Tinted

The devastation of the great San Francisco Earthquake, on this day in 1906, is extensively photographically documented. There are thousands of monochrome photographs, some of which I've shared before, printed in newspapers or mass-produced as postcards. There are even a few true colour photographs, made with a rare early process. 

The images in this post are stereoviews of post-earthquake scenes, photographs translated into low-quality half-tones, and then hand-tinted for commercial sale. I find them fascinating as an insight into the desires of early 20th century consumers of photography--even in documentary photographs, and even for photographs of a tragedy, applied colour was a selling point. 

New York Public Library

Workmen taking down unstable walls. Source

New York Public Library

A cracked Van Ness Avenue. Source

New York Public Library

The wrecked synagogue, Powell and Sutter Streets. Source

Wartime Kangaroos

A special edition of the wartime pets series! As we've seen in past posts, soldiers are very, very fond of keeping pets and mascots of all kinds, from the expected dogs and cats to pigs, goats, and foxes. Out of all the unusual pets, perhaps the most surprisingly popular was the kangaroo (or wallaby). Australian soldiers played with them at home, then took them along on journeys to far-off fronts. Foreign troops stationed in Australia were also keen to seize their chance of kangaroo adoption. I don't know if they do make good pets, but these fellows certainly seem thought so!

An Australian soldier with a pet kangaroo near the Pyramids, Egypt, about 1915. Source

Soldiers with a kangaroo in Malaysa, 1941. Source

A soldier with "Joey" the kangaroo in Malaya, 1941. According to the caption, he was smuggled in a box labelled "Medical Supplies." Source

Homes of the Stars

Among the over 900 postcards of 1930s-40s California held by the Boston Public Library, a distinct set stands out. Apparently in this period it was very popular to print postcards depicting the private homes of movie stars. Many are even verifiable as having belonged to the named celebrity. Even then, the line between the private and public lives of celebrities was certainly blurred. 

These aren't dated (beyond the vague ca. 1930-1945 range given to the entire collection), but based on the celebrities, they seem to come from the mid to late thirties. The first postcard below, the home of Bing Crosby, was certainly created between 1936, when the house was constructed, and 1942, when it burned down. 

Boston Public Library

Home of Bing Crosby, 1936-1942. Source

Boston Public Library

Home of Gary Cooper. Source

Boston Public Library

Home of Ginger Rogers (I). Source

Motels in Technicolour

The other month I discovered the Boston Public Library's amazing collection of over 25,000 linen postcards of the United States from the 1930s and 40s. Of course I dove right in, sharing a postcard each from the 48 states represented. Though the majority of those were scenic view cards, the view cards are only a portion of the postcards in the collection. A very large number are postcards that double as advertisements, for businesses, restaurants, and motels. Especially motels. The motel cards go on and on.

I think these kinds of superficially boring cards (or photos) can be amazing. They all look the same, and they all look different. Their sheer quantity and repetitiveness bear testament to their roles as objects of popular culture. These cards especially are so earnest, their bright colours cheerful and optimistic. This was the age of motels, the period when highways were flourishing and Americans were just discovering the fun of the road trip. The postcards promote the appeal of this new pastime with a touching sincerity.

Boston Public Library

Coquille, Oregon. Source

Boston Public Library

Seneca Falls, New York. Source

Boston Public Library

Newman, Illinois. Source

Postcards from America, Part Two

Continuing our postcard journey through the United States, thanks to the collections of the Boston Public Library. Nebraska to Wyoming!

Boston Public Library

Nebraska. Source

Boston Public Library

This little Nevada town... is Las Vegas. Source

Boston Public Library

New Hampshire. Source

Postcards from America, Part One

I recently discovered the Boston Public Library on Flickr, and it was instant love. They have over 90,000 images in 380 sets, from photographs to posters to trade cards to produce crate labels. Though they're not on the Flickr Commons, most if not all of their images are available to share under an attribution Creative Commons license. I am very excited to explore, and if anyone on the Boston Public Library team ever happens to read this, thank you!

One of the highlights of the collection (at least in my eyes) is a collection of over 25,000 postcards from the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. These are proofs of postcards that were sold by the Boston-based Tichnor company. Every state (at the time) is represented, although some are represented much better than others. As well as a wide variety of views there are huge numbers of advertising postcards depicting roadside motels, diners, and other businesses; total old-school Americana. I plan on sharing some of these fellows in the future, but I thought I'd start a journey through the collection with a journey through the states. For this post and the next, I've picked one card from each state (with no deep thought; just ones I think are great). Hawaii and Alaska, of course, weren't states at the time; there is a single postcard of Alaska but it's just a map so I skipped it. For some reason Minnesota and Kansas are hardly represented at all; there are a few business-related cards but none of the nice view cards every other state has. So sorry, Minnesotans and folks from Kansas (Kansasians?)--no offense is intended by the cards I chose! 

These are in alphabetical order. For each state I've linked to the corrosponding state set on Flickr, so you can have a look at the rest of the ones you like-- some states have over a thousand!

Boston Public Library

Alabama. Source

Boston Public Library

Arizona. Source

Boston Public Library

Arkansas. Source

Magic Splendour of Electric Blaze

A variety of terrific sterographs depicting the illuminations at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, published bey several different stereo companies. Like the buildings created for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, the St. Louis Fair's buildings were not designed to last more than a year or two. All but one of these buildings were demolished shortly after the event ended.

By the way, if you can free-view (look at stereos the right way to get the 3-D effect without a viewer) or would like to try (it's like magic eye)-- these really are just incredible in stereo. 

Library of Congress

The Festival Hall. Source

Library of Congress

Another view of the Festival Hall. Source

Library of Congress

Palaces of Electricity and Machinery. Source

The Secret Lives of Pennies

I have to admit, I love the "filler" stories from LIFE magazine. There's dramatic, insightful, though-provoking photo-essays... and there's tests on cooperation in cats, pet lemurs, and Parisians drinking Coca-Cola. Most of these kinds of stories would only have a few pictures in the published magazine, somewhere in the middle to back, surronded by ads-- but thanks to the online LIFE archives, we can enjoy the silliness/banality to its fullest! 

This picture story is apparently concerned with pennies, and what you can do with them.

Photographs from 1953, taken by Nina Leen. 

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

A store receiving their week's worth of pennies, with police escort. Source

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

Tea bags you can buy for one cent each. Source

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

Boxes of matches 2 for a penny. Source

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Happy belated Thanksgiving to the American folks! To go with those leftovers, how about a few early 20th century Thanksgiving postcards from the New York Public Library? 

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1909. Source

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1915. Source

New York Public Library

Written: "Why is it I never hear from you?" Postmarked 1909. Source

Backdrops of the Civil War

Another journey into the backdrops used by photographer's studios, this time in a certain context. During the American Civil War, ambrotype and tintype portraits of soldiers were made in great numbers by photographers who set up temporary studios at military camps (this blog has featured quite a few). While the majority of photographers just went with the plain canvas backdrop, painted backdrops were also in common use. Backdrops depicting camp scenes--usually with a prominent American flag-- were popular, along with a variety of landscapes, from the realistic to the somewhat fanciful. It is very interesting to see the kinds of scenes these young men wanted to be placed in (or the photographer though they might want to be placed it, at least). 

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a landscape backdrop. Source

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a checkered terrace backdrop. Source

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a military camp backdrop. Source

Friends of the Civil War

As we've seen before-- and as you can see with even the briefest visit to the Library of Congress's holdings-- photographs of soldiers during the Civil War were very popular. After all, this might be first, only, and/or last time one of these men might be able to get his picture taken. With that in mind, I find it striking how many of these men wanted that picture to be with a friend. It's especially touching how they made sure to display the affection they felt for one another, with arms on shoulders, linked arms, and even held hands (the mid 19th century was a lot less uptight about displays of male affection, perhaps surprisingly). 

Ambrotypes and tintypes, 1861-65.

Library of Congress

Private Reggie T. Wingfield and Private Hamden T. Flay in Confederate uniforms. Source

Library of Congress

Soldiers in Union shell jackets. Source

Library of Congress

Sergeant Robert Black and Private Herman Beckman in Union uniforms. Source

The Civil War, Tinted

I haven't had a people of the civil war post in a long time, which is a shame as the photographs are striking to look at and started me into this blog in the first place. Fortunately I got sucked into the Library of Congress's collection for a few hours today (when I should have been studying for a photo history exam, ironically), so I have rather a lot of material now to draw from! Expect more of this in the coming months. 

Today's theme: hand-tinting. People were crazy about photography right away, but sad it didn't yet come in colour. So a market sprung up for the tinting of photographs with paints, aided by the fact that photography put many former painters of miniatures out of work. They tinted daguerreotypes (like this one), and when they moved on to tintypes, ambrotypes, and glass negative-paper photography, they tinted those even more. You almost always see some degree of tinting in ambrotypes and higher-end tintypes, especially the cheeks. Jewellery and buttons are also often painted with gold. (just glance through this post of civil war portraits!). However, it didn't always stop there. Parts of clothing, all the clothing, parts of the backdrop, tablecloths... all were potentially coloured. Sometimes this is a nice effect. Sometime it's.... not. (Though, granted, sometimes the different rates of deterioration in the imaging substance and the paints means the colour looks more drastic today than it did originally. Sometimes, though, it was just flat out badly done).

Portraits were done very widely in the civil war, as ambrotypes and tintypes, and there was a similar wide variety of tinting going on.

From the Library of Congress.

Library of Congress

A Confederate captain. Ambrotype. Source

Library of Congress

Union soldier with bayoneted musket. Ambrotype. Source

Library of Congress

Unidentified Confederate soldier. Ambrotype. Source

Election Day

As you may have heard (even if you're outside of the United States), it's Election Day. As a break from voting, and/or checking the results, and/or trying to avoid election coverage, some elections of former days!

From various collections; see source links. 

Paul Schutzer, LIFE

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Senator Robert F. Kennedy after voting (for his brother, the caption notes, though isn't that supposed to be confidential...?) 1960. Source

Woodrow Wilson Presidential  Library Archives

President Woodrow Wilson voting, 1916. Source

Nationaal Archief

Dutch women voting for the first time, Amsterdam, 1921. Source

California by Stereograph

A stereograph, for those who don't know, is two images (usually photographs, but not always) taken and printed a certain distance apart so that, when viewed though a proper viewer, they combine to create one, 3-D-looking image (a demonstration here). These were insanely popular throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, with hundreds of thousands of views created. 

These particular stereos are by Carleton Watkins, who travelled west with railroad companies to create a visual record and share images of the still-new (to white Americans) country. These images c. 1879. 

By the way, if you don't have a stereo viewer on you, it is possible to get the effect without one, by unfocusing and refocusing your eyes in the same way as a Magic Eye. Though I'm  not to blame for any headaches created in this attempt!

From the Library of Congress. 

Library of Congress

El Capitan mirror view, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

The Yosemite Falls. Source

Library of Congress

Cathedral spires, Yosemite. Source

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! 

Photographs of celebrations across the years!

 From various institutions, but especially the Library of Congress. 

A little boy dressed for the 4th, Leesburg, Florida, 1913. Source

A 4th of July parade in NYC, 1911. Source

A 4th of July parade in DeLand, Florida, 1884. Source

"The America of 1960"

An incredible, 35,700 square foot model envisioning the United States in 1960 at the General Motors exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair. Called "Futurama" and designed by Norman Bel Geddes, it was the fair's hit attraction, full to capacity every day. Visitors rode on conveyor simulating an aerial journey over the model. More info is here, and a colour video is here. 

These photographs are by Alfred Eisenstaedt, turning his unsurpassed photographer's eye on the model for LIFE magazine. 

From the LIFE photo archives. 

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Pedestrian streets over top of vehicle streets filled with modernistic cars. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

The model's Yosemite Valley. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

An airport of the future. Source