The Real Photo Postcard Guide is an informative, comprehensive, and practical treatment of this wildly popular American phenomenon that dominated the United States photographic market during the first third of the twentieth century. Robert Bogdan and Todd Weseloh draw on extensive research and observation to address all aspects of the photo postcard from its history, origin, and cultural significance to practical matters like dating, purchasing, condition, and preservation.

Illustrated with over 350 exceptional photo postcards taken from archives and private collections across the country, the scope of the Real Photo Postcard Guide spans technical considerations of production, characteristics of superior images, collecting categories, and methods of research for dating photo postcards and investigating their photographers.

In a broader sense, the authors show how "real photo postcards" document the social history of America. From family outings and workplace awards to lynchings and natural disasters, every image captures a moment of American cultural history from the society that generated them.

Bogdan and Weseloh's book provides an admirable integration of informative text and compelling photographic illustrations. Collectors, archivists, photographers, photo historians, social scientists, and anyone interested in the visual documentation of America will find the Real Photo Postcard Guide indispensable.

Author: Robert Bogdan, Todd Weseloh
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 09/21/2006
Pages: 304
Weight: 2.81lbs
Size: 11.50h x 8.72w x 0.91d
ISBN: 9780815608516


Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2007 pg. 309

About the Author

Robert Bogdan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University. He is the author of many books, including Exposing the Wilderness: Early Twentieth-Century Adirondack Postcard Photographers, Adirondack Vernacular: The Photography of Henry M. Beach, and Picturing Disability: Beggar, Freak, Citizen, and Other Photographic Rhetoric.

Todd Weseloh was the librarian/archivist at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY, and has been an avid collector of postcards since 1976.