Let's Spot the Difference!

          At the turn of the twentieth century, postcards were one of the best ways to communicate with family and friends across the country. Majority of these cards, which cost a penny postage, had a photograph of a person or place on the front. Huntley, like nearly every town in the U.S. at that time, had many postcards depicting structures and locations in town.  Many professional companies produced these cards (E. C. Kropp, C. R. Childs, and later Curt Teich, just to name a few). Other people took their own photographs and brought them to a company or a local photograph developer and had cards created. I will say this: there is a definite difference between a professional made card and one made by a local towns person, and below, there is fine evidence of that! Enjoy the folk art!

 

          The first two cards were produced about 1908 by the well known and well respected card producer C. R. Childs Company. This company produced highly detailed cards from the exposure to the angle of the photograph in relation to the structure to quality of the paper used. These two cards use actual, already published postcards. The top card uses six unmarked, most likely German produced, cards. The lower uses one of the same cards, but grouped with different cards from another unmarked company.  After arranging them in an interesting pattern, and in the case of the top photo, adding larger lettering, voila! C. R. Childs successfully took some other company's photos and made them their own. This was a common practice, both in using a photo that was produced by an unknown company, and having multiple images on a card.  Because of the popularity of these multi-image cards, others produced their own version.  Most that produced these were professional companies, but the below picture shows what happens when the town pharmacist takes a stab at it.

 

          This card was produced at the same time as the above cards, but there is one glaring difference: The top ones were professional, beautiful to look at, and well arranged. This one, eh, not so much. But that's because this card was hand made in every way, most likely by the druggist mentioned. Notice how the pictures are once again postcards, but see how he wrote over the front to make the titles more evident. Also note that the main title "Churches Huntley ILL." was entirely hand written. And, what is in my opinion the best part, note how he tacked everything to a piece of wood! This wasn't some nice, beautiful piece with postcards adhered to a pleasant background. No, it was completely hand done, tacked up to a dark piece of wood, and displayed with a hand written title.  Frankly, I find this card to be more attractive just from the obvious fact that it is folk art, but that may just be me. In any case, these three cards exemplify the difference between a manufacturing company that does this for a living, and a small town druggist trying to make a scenic card to sell to passers-by.