Brian Capouch

brianc@palaver.net

sunnycrestfarm.org /rppc

The Big Picture

Continuous-tone images "know" much more than is easily seen
Real picture postcards (RPPC) capture valuable historical detail
Digitizing RPPCs is easy, and has manifold benefits
Chicago's Charles R. Childs was a picture-postcard pioneer
Non-RPPC images have their place, too

Here's hoping the images are big enough and clear enough!!!

I. About continuous-tone images

Continuous tone

Similar to grayscale; colors vary continuously
One color shades gradually into another with no gaps
There may be hundreds of shades in a single square inch
Such images capture enormous detail
Old-fashioned film pictures are continuous-tone

Halftone

Printing presses can only print one color at a time!!
It's easy to fool the human eye
- AT A DISTANCE!!
Halftones represent a tradeoff
- Consist of many dots of a single color
- Dot sizes vary--the bigger the dot the darker the shade
- The dots blur to simulate a continuous-tone image
  - AT A DISTANCE!!

e.g.

Continuous-tone postcard by ML Photo

Halftone postcard, S.D. Kropp, Milwaukee

Continuous tone imaging is the "secret sauce" in the RPPC

II. RPPCs hold a lot of information

Some important dates

1893: Postcards introduced at Columbian Exposition
1902: Kodak sells photographic "paper" with pre-printed back
1907: Post Office allows messages on the backs of postcards
1907: Kodak introduces "Real Picture Postcard"
- They continued to produce them until ca. 1950
Postcards became a major social phenomenon
Chicago was the commercial production epicenter

Some Chicago-area shops

C.R. Childs
ML-Photo - Morris L. Masure
- 2837 Milwaukee Ave Chicago
Crose - Thomas Albert Crose
- He was born near Brookston
Harry Stilwell - studio in Monon

Case studies

The cool stuff is found using the zoomer

scene-history.org

1. Frank Pullins (1875-1958)

ca. 1915 by Harry Stilwell

2. Dr. Hackley's (1871-1942) House

Neill Williams (1884-1965) Glass Negative

3. When did Wm. Leader's cornice collapse?

ca. 1920 by Crose

Regular people made RPPCs, too

I got two "personal" RPPCs from Don Behny, a man I never met

Seeing Frank Baughman (1865-1932)

Crowd admires Brush Runabout in front of old Horner's Store building

Ocker later moved to Wheatfield

Was a "rainmaker" there

An aside. . .

Baughman Bros. Store, Mary Baughman photo

Arthur Wright, sweater model

Those guys by Frank look familiar . . . .

ca. 1915, photographer unknown

Childs view of Iroquois - taken from near present-day "Busy Bee"

Childs image of Washington Street

III.The digitization process

Thanks to the late Jim Schilling, of the Starke County Historical Society

Scan resolution matters

Horner Store - Mary Baughman Collection

Scanned ca. 2005

2018 Scan w/i900

File format matters too!

General advice: archive in TIF
Most .jpg formats LOSE information
GIF and PNG "okay" with caveats

Even film has "resolution"

Photographers use the term grain
The finer the grain, the higher the resolution
Not all RPPCs are created equal!!

IV. The amazing career of

C.R. Childs

Childs biographical highlights

Lived his whole life in Chicago area (1875-1960)
Very little is known about him
Estimates vary 25,000-80,000 cards produced
- They document life in many small towns
Not all are RPPCs
Later work was "artsy" instead of documentary