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Books > Arts & Architecture > Antiques & collectables > Books, manuscripts, ephemera & printed matter
Snapshots and Short Notes examines the photographic postcards
exchanged during the first half of the twentieth century as
illustrated, first-hand accounts of American life. Almost
immediately after the introduction of the generic postcard at the
turn of the century, innovations in small, accessible cameras added
black and white photographs to the cards. The resulting combination
of image and text emerged as a communication device tantamount to
social media today. Postcard messages and photographs tell the
stories of ordinary lives during a time of far-reaching
technological, demographic, and social changes: a family's new
combine harvester that could cut 40 acres a day; a young woman
trying to find work in a man's world; the sight of an airplane in
flight. However, postcards also chronicled and shared hardship and
tragedy - the glaring reality of homesteading on the High Plains,
natural disasters, preparations for war, and the struggles for
racial and gender equality. With a meticulous eye for detail,
painstaking research, and astute commentary, Wilson surveys more
than 160 photographic postcards, reproduced in full color, that
provide insights into every aspect of life in a time not far
removed from our own.
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