Artwork: Delaware River Bridge Connecting Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ, 1933.
The “good old days.” Everyone’s talking about ‘em. They exist as a hazy, faded memory of glory and gold, of a time when everything was shiny and new. The sky’s the limit, possibility’s infinite—all your dreams can come true. It is nothing short of heaven on earth. To tell people it’s a fantasy is just a hard way to go; people pin their hopes to the illusions life bestows. And they fuel this illusion with artifacts from the past.
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Postcard America: Curt Teich and the Imaging of a Nation, 1931–1950 by Jeffrey L. Meikle (University of Texas Press) is the blueprint for the vision of the country at its greatest heights. Perhaps it was the fact that these images of grandeur were created during the height of the Great Depression and the early postwar years, that this these are the images held so near and dear to the country’s identity. It was do or die, survival was on the line, and every last bit counted.
San Francisco Night View, Bay Bridge and Battleship Searchlights and Lights of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda in Distance, 1938
It’s hard to imagine, but back then, the postcard was at the cutting edge of communication technology; at the same time, imagine getting beautiful cards with brief notes in the mail. What better way to say, “Thinking of you,” then to send an image to be shared? Curt Teich & Co. of Chicago understood this very need, establishing themselves as the originator of the linen postcard. Their designs featured vividly colorized landscapes and cityscapes taken across the nation, from sea to shining sea, even going so far as the Lava Fountains in Hawaii National Park. The result was a series of images that came to define America’s golden age.
A Breaker on Atlantic Ocean, 1933
In Postcard America, Jeffrey L. Meikle takes us on an incredible tour, revealing the way in which photographic views were transformed into iconic images of the United States, and the way in which the postcard became the most trendy medium for mass communication. The book is breathtaking in its luxuriousness, a veritable treasure trove of American culture. Organized into two portfolios, Landscapes and Cityscapes, Postcard America presents a pictorial guide to the nation at its dreamiest vision of itself, an idyllic Eden balanced by an ambitious populace whose dedication to business serves the country’s best interest. The images. There is a sense of faith, hope, and trust that echoes the phrase “In God We Trust” stamped on our greenbacks. It’s knowing yet folksy, “can’t we all just get along” Utopian goals.
Cherry picking scene, Door County, Wisconsin
The postcards of Curt Teich & Co. were as aspirational as it could get, these intimate slips of paper finding their way from person to person, sharing a point of view, offering a perspective and a way of looking at the country that was nothing short of exceptional. The images are a rallying cry, evoking an image of the nation that to this day survives. Postcard America evokes the feel good vibes of the “good old days,” while simultaneously revealing the manufacture of fantasy. Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Black Rock Beach, Great Salt Lake, Utah
Artwork: From Postcard America: Curt Teich and the Imaging of a Nation, 1931-1950 (University of Texas Press, 2016), courtesy of Jeffrey L. Meikle.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
