| Was This Heaven?: A Self-Portrait of Iowa on Early Postcards Contributor(s): Henry, Lyell D. Jr. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0877455201 ISBN-13: 9780877455202 Publisher: University of Iowa Press OUR PRICE: $30.40 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 1995 Annotation: Was This Heaven? provides detailed depictions of homes and clothing and hairstyles, of celebrations and ceremonies, of church, school, and social activities, of farm animals and city streets, of the multitudinous ways of living full and satisfying lives. Lyell Henry wisely gives priority to people over place, shortchanging public buildings in favor of cards that cast a more direct light on early Iowans' lives and minds. Last spring's flood, the Christmas tree in the parlor, high school graduation, the annual family picnic, the whistle-stop visit of President Taft, and true-life encounters with gigantic hogs and outsize ears of corn all combine to form a pleasantly rich visual record of the mental and physical worlds of the many Iowans featured. These postcards convey images of people who found great joy in their daily lives. With the publication of Was This Heaven? Iowans at the end of the twentieth century can look back across the decades and recapture that same joy in these fresh and effervescent images. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Antiques & Collectibles | Postcards - History | United States - State & Local - General |
| Dewey: 977.7 |
| LCCN: 95017620 |
| Series: Bur Oak Book |
| Physical Information: 1.04" H x 7.26" W x 7.76" (1.39 lbs) 268 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Midwest - Geographic Orientation - Iowa |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the early decades of the twentieth century, Iowans all across the Hawkeye State succumbed to the nationwide craze for exchanging photographic postcards, mailing each other thousands of images--serious and whimsical--of Uncle Bob and Baby Dora, the Sunday school outing, train wrecks, the Fourth of July celebration, the merchants' carnival, the record-setting blizzard following the bin-busting harvest, the new courthouse, Ackley's Sauer-Kraut Band. Now, thanks to the generosity of David A. Wilson, whose ample collection of photographic cards would be the envy of those early Iowans, Lyell Henry has organized more than two hundred postcards into eight reflective chapters that create a beguiling collective portrait of Iowa life and culture from 1905 to 1919. |