Anna Hornberger and Charles O'Connor in Atlantic City
Description
Real photo postcard with small oval photograph of a man and woman taken in a photo studio. Written on back: "Anna Hornberger and Charles O'Connor, 704 8th St., Altoona, Pa. Taken at Atlantic City" and "20 years".
Real photo postcard with oval photograph of Anna Hornberger Goldthwait. Note on back of photograph says it was taken in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1902 when she was 20 years old.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-134) and index.
Summary
Rural Delivery revisits life in small-town America through examining photographs that were made into postcards in the early twentieth century. The book features more than two hundred photo postcards that re-create a time when Union County Pennsylvania, was prosperous, progressive, and growing, like many other small towns of the era. With so-called corresponding photographs at the height of their popularity, neighboring towns competed with one another to have their best "souvenir views" available. The images, made by professional and amateur photographers alike, include impressive bird's-eye views of towns and close-ups of their bustling streets. Area residents are shown on the move--in trains, buggies, and cars, as well as at play--at Bucknell (then College) class rushes, picnics in the Narrows, or ballooning expeditions in Allenwood. Catastrophic events and patriotic celebrations are also shown in these rare visual documents, which rivaled newspapers for their timeliness. Views of scenic spots, artfully composed or dramatically lighted, advertise the photographer's skill and the region's pastoral beauty. Art historian Jody Blake relates the photographic correspondence to technical, social, and artistic developments in the history of photography, while material cultural historian Jeannette Lasansky places the images on the postcards in the local historical context of Union County.
