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.
Most of the photographs have not been reproduced since being issued. Extensive captions cover issues ranging from photographic techniques to historical background to rarity. Documentary materials, such as diagrams from photographic manuals and excerpts from local newspapers, are also included. Grover Bierly, Nelson Caulkins, Urs. H. Eisenhauer, Edwin S. Heiser, Stephen B. Horton, Arthur R. Ishiguro, Ellen H. Shields, John C. Slear, and John D. Swanger are among twenty-six photographers whose biographies are included.

Rural Delivery: Real Photo Postcards from Central Pennsylvania, 1905–1935

Lasansky, Jeannette

BLAKE, Jody.

Arts & Photography

Penn State University Press

In France of the early twentieth-century, the term art nègre was as likely to refer to the black music and dance of America as to the sculpture of Africa. Indeed, music and dance, which both racial theorists and novelists portrayed as the "primitive" arts par excellence, were widely believed to exemplify the "genius" of blacks. In Le Tumulte noir, Jody Blake traces the profound impact African sculpture and African American music and dance had upon Parisian popular entertainment as well as upon avant-garde, modernist art, literature, and theater.Through her discussion of the reception of ragtime and jazz, as well as other African visual and performing art forms, Blake provides new ways of understanding the development of modernist "primitivism," from Matisse and Picasso to Dada and Surrealism. She also demonstrates that the influence of art nègre went well beyond the art world. From the notorious cakewalk to the Charleston, African American idioms played a key role in shaping modern cultural, social, and political life.

Le Tumulte noir: Modernist Art and Popular Entertainment in Jazz-Age Paris, 1900–1930

History & Criticism

In France of the early twentieth-century, the term art nègre was as likely to refer to the black music and dance of America as to the sculpture of Africa. Indeed, music and dance, which both racial theorists and novelists portrayed as the "primitive" arts par excellence, were widely believed to exemplify the "genius" of blacks. In Le Tumulte noir, Jody Blake traces the profound impact African sculpture and African American music and dance had upon Parisian popular entertainment as well as upon avant-garde, modernist art, literature, and theater.
Through her discussion of the reception of ragtime and jazz, as well as other African visual and performing art forms, Blake provides new ways of understanding the development of modernist "primitivism," from Matisse and Picasso to Dada and Surrealism. She also demonstrates that the influence of art nègre went well beyond the art world. From the notorious cakewalk to the Charleston, African American idioms played a key role in shaping modern cultural, social, and political life.

Eye for the Stage: The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts at the McNay Art Museum

McNay

Rural Delivery: Real Photo Postcards from Central Pennsylvania 1905-1935 shows rural America at its best during these years and relates the history of photographic techniques to the country's craze for postcards. Over 200 duotones.

Rural Delivery: Real Photo Postcards from Central Pennsylvania, 1905-1935

History

Union County Historical Society (Pa.)

Americas

Union County Historical Society

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Books by BLAKE, Jody.