Picturing Illinois : twentieth-century postcard art from Chicago to Cairo

234 Pages·2012·26.61 MB·English

by  John A, Sculle, Keith A., Jakle

Picturing
ILLINOIS
Twentieth–Century
Postcard Art from
Chicago to Cairo
JOHN A. JAKLE
AND KEITH A. SCULLE
Picturing illinois
Picturing
illinois
Twentieth-Century
Postcard Art from
Chicago to Cairo
JOHN A. JAKLE
AND KEITH A. SCULLE
University of Illinois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfeld
© 2012 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jakle, John A.
Picturing Illinois : twentieth-century postcard art from
Chicago to Cairo / John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03682-8
1. Postcards—Illinois—History—20th century.
2. Illinois—History—20th century—Pictorial works.
3. Chicago (Ill.)—History—20th century—Pictorial works.
4. City and town life—Illinois—History—20th century—
Pictorial works.
5. Country life—Illinois—History—20th century—
Pictorial works.
I. Sculle, Keith A. II. Title.
f542.j35 2012
977.30022'2—dc23 2012022890
For Cindy and Tracey
contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part One Chicago and Its Suburbs:
The Metropolis 23
Part twO Illinois beyond the Metropolis 115
Epilogue 185
Notes 191
Credits 199
Index 203
Preface and
acknowledgments
Some one hundred years ago, the lowly
postcard prompted a true enthusiasm for popular
visual art. Scenic postcards were mailed and col-
lected annually quite literally by the hundreds of
millions, thus coming to play a vital role in how
Americans conceptualized their nation’s geog-
raphy. Through postcard art, Americans learned
what was important both in big cities such as
Chicago and in small-town and rural locales be-
yond. Postcards pictured the important aspects of
local landscapes and places, especially buildings,
streets, and parks. They taught how such things
were best visualized. So also did they help to an-
chor Americans in history. As often as not, what
got pictured spoke to a sense of progress over time
whereby life in the United States had only gotten
better, at least in regard to things material. For
many Americans, the consumption of postcard art
became a form of self-congratulation. Postcards
said: “I belong here.” “This is my place.” “This is my
kind of place.”
Well before 1900, when postcards’ popularity
soared, Chicagoans had already come to think of
their city, and by extension themselves, as some-
thing largely apart from the remainder of the
state of Illinois—almost a state in its own right.
And for good reason: Chicago had become the
economic capital of a vast Middle Western region
that stretched from the High Plains and the Rocky