Real Photo Postcard Guide: The People’s Photography

by Robert Bogdan, Todd Weseloh

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.

Genres: Photography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2006

About the author

Robert Bogdan is distinguished professor emeritus of special education, cultural foundations of education, and sociology at Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York).

Reviews

[Frederic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite book on postcards (full disclosure: I used to know both authors slightly, Weseloh as a dealer in postcards and Bogdan both as a dealer and through his academic work). It's completely solid as a scholarly work, but also interesting and useful for anyone who's into real-photo postcards. It's well illustrated with many examples from many different genres; I might ideally like to see the photos a little bigger -- they're about 2/3 actual size, I'd say -- but still quite good. It's certainly the book I recommend most often on postcards, and one I return to myself often.

[Steven Shook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the definitive guide to real photo postcards. Mr. Bogdan reviews the history of photography as it applies to postcard production, as well as the associated marketing of these postcards. Social history, as captured by the images in real photo postcards, is also well covered in Mr. Bogdan's book.

Produced in a similar manner as a "coffee table" book, this book is of high quality. High quality paper, high quality images, and superb writing.

Anyone that collects postcards would appreciate this book, as it ranks as one of the best postcard-related books written.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real photo postcards is a hobby of mine, so this was a no-brainer of a book to buy. It was informative and well-written. This is not a coffee table book. There was as much text as there were photographs. As a novice collector, I felt a bit talked down to in some areas. The author often discussed how "advanced" collectors do things. Maybe there was no other way to say what he needed to say, but that's how i felt.

[Taylor Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource!