Thursday, May 14, 2020
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
ARTS & CULTURE
3
Experience local art show
without leaving your house
Photo postcards — an early social media revolution
■ Turn-of-the-century postcard images and messages from the Edsel White Collection make up Josephy Center’s virtual exhibit
JOSEPH — Before Facebook, Instagram
and Snapchat, there were photo postcards,
America’s fi rst great social media crush.
Wallowa County, like the rest of the country,
eagerly embraced the new technologies that
made it easy for ordinary people to take a
“snapshot” and have it printed on photo-
graphic paper with a pre-printed postcard
back. They could then send their own
personalized images along with a short note
to anyone, anywhere in the world with an
address. And a town name and state was all
that was needed in the rural U.S.
This social media revolution was driven
by the Eastman Kodak Company. In 1888,
Kodak developed the fi rst camera pre-loaded
with fl exible fi lm. After the photographer had
taken the pictures, he or she would send the
entire camera back to the company for devel-
oping, and a few weeks later would receive
the photographs in the mail.
In 1900, Kodak introduced the Brownie
camera. It was lightweight, portable, inex-
pensive and easy to use, making photography
available to amateurs. In 1902, the company
introduced Velox postcard paper, and in 1904,
the Kodak Brownie 3A, designed specifi cally
for taking postcard pictures.
The fi nal development that drove this
turn-of-the-century social media format was
the divided postcard back. Prior to 1907,
the back of the photo postcard was strictly
reserved for the address of the recipient. The
new 1907 regulations allowed for a mes-
sage and the address on the back. It was the
ability to send a photograph with a personal
note that really popularized this early social
media phenomenon.
The total number of postcards sent in the
mail will never be known; the U.S. Postal
Service estimated that nearly 1 billion were
sent through the mail in 1913 alone.
The ability of amateurs to produce their
own photographs cut into the already thin
margins of professional photographers, many
of whom supplemented their photo business
with second jobs. This was true of local pro-
fessional photographers like Joseph Henry
Romig, a Joseph photographer, and Hugh
Davis of Enterprise.
Local photographers like Hiram Merry,
a farmer who lived in the little community
of Grouse near Troy, and Roy Edgmand, a
teacher, seemed to identify themselves fi rst
as “farmer” and “teacher.” And then there
were those who were took photographs as a
hobby, offering none of their output for sale,
but whose work constitutes an important
part of our historical record. Frank Reavis
of Enterprise is perhaps the premier local
example of this.
In any case, the greatest portion of the
historic photographic record
we have of Wallowa County
comes from photo postcards
during this time period.
Many of the photographers
remain unknown and un-
credited.
In addition to the historic
importance of the photo-
graphic images themselves,
the notes written on the
backs provide an interest-
ing look into the lives of the
people of the time. By turns
tragic, comic and mun-
dane—the universal human
need to stay connected and
share lives with distant
family members, friends
and loved ones was as im-
portant then as it is now.
The images and words
presented in the Josephy
Center’s virtual exhibit,
which opened May 4, come
from the important collec-
tion of Edsel White, whose
hundreds of photographs
and documents add im-
mensely to what we know
of our own story. And,
thanks to his generosity
and willingness to share his
passion with others, we’re
enriched by being able to see
something of our own lives
through those who have
gone before us.
THE EXHIBIT
Go to www.josephy.org/
virtual-exhibit/post-cards to see
the exhibit, curated by Wallowa
historian David Weaver. Seth
Kinzie set up the display, with
postcards accompanied by read-
ings (by voice specialist Amanda
Berry) of brief essays written by
Weaver.
On May 29 at 5 p.m., join
Weaver and White for an
online celebration on Zoom.
Article and photo courtesy of Weaver, White and the Josephy Center