Here are two postcards from the early twentieth century showing Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.1 The first can be dated accurately. I evaluate several clues to estimate the date of the second postcard.
The first photo is from a real-picture postcard. The same image was published in the local newspaper on November 27, 1908 just prior to the newly-constructed school opening to students on November 30, 1908.2 The second photo is a hand-colored postcard, based on an actual photograph.
The first photo is a more front-on view, but the telephone (or electrical) cable (A) that runs in front of the school is at the same height in both. The telephone pole (B) in the second photo must be just off the left edge of the first photo. The tree (C) is the same shape and size in each photo.
Due to the difference in perspective, the shed (D) appears closer to the school in the second photo, but in the first, we know it is actually across Franklin Street from the school. The group of trees (E) has the same shape, size and arrangement in both photos.
Hand-colored “photographic” postcards from that era are usually highly stylized. Although based on actual photographs, there can be significant artistic license applied to make a pleasing postcard. The first photo appears to be taken on a cloudy day. The blue sky and clouds in the second photo are almost certainly stylized. We cannot rely on that to say the two photographs were taken on separate days.
Although the grass is green, it too was likely added by the colorist. There seems to be lush mounds of grass near the basement windows, where in the first photo it is actually snow. The children are wearing heavy coats, which they would not wear in the spring when the grass is so green. The shed (D) also has a woodpile, which looks fully stocked. If it were taken the following spring when the grass was green, the firewood would likely be depleted.
Comparing the sidewalk where the children are standing to the muddy area in the first photo, it seems the second photo could be taken years later. However the entire sidewalk from the left edge of the postcard to the front door of the school looks unrealistic, as if the colorist made it look well manicured. It doesn’t seem to be the same size or angle as the sidewalk on the right side of the photo. It changes abruptly at the tree in the foreground.
Although the perspectives are slightly different, both photos are taken from approximately the same vantage point and therefore likely by the same photographer. In the second photo, the photographer had to change the perspective to emphasize the children off to the side. Or did he?
The children may actually have been added by the colorist. In a view (below) of Main Street in Mount Pleasant, taken about 1910, the actual photo shows a bustling street with many pedestrians.3 In a hand-colored postcard based on that same photo, many pedestrians, horses and even telephone poles were removed. A few people and carriages were kept in their original positions. The school children too may have been stylized for the sake of the postcard.
As for when the second photo was taken, the most compelling clue that both photos were taken at the same time are the trees. Not only are they bare of leaves, but overall, they look to be the same shape, position and size in both photos. If they were taken months or years apart, the trees would be different.
Since the first photo was published in the newspaper November 27, 1908, it must have been taken one or more days beforehand. Thanksgiving that year was November 26 and it is doubtful the photographer worked that day. It was probably taken November 24 or 25, 1908.
If the children are actually there, and if they had the entire Thanksgiving week off school, it could have been taken as early as the Friday before, on November 20, 1908. Although children today usually have the whole holiday week off, it is unclear if kids back then did.
According to weather records, there was heavy snowfall across western Lower Michigan on November 14, 1908, with 16 inches at Muskegon.4 The snow in the first photo appears a few inches deep, but some areas had already melted. It therefore couldn’t have been taken very many days before November 20.
The newspaper indicates students would start classes in the new building on Monday November 30, 1908. It is unlikely the photographer would take the first photo, then come back on opening day, set up again, and take one with the children present. He more likely would have taken both photographs during the same session. Owing to the occasion, the children may have lined up for the photograph prior to opening day, or they may have been added to the view by the colorist. Only the actual, non-colorized photograph can answer that question.
Photographs were not taken often back then. In fact these two photographs served as the only photographs of the school for decades. The same images were published often in yearbooks and on postcards. The second photo is the same image used on many postcards over the years, with slightly different lettering and coloring styles. This particular one was postmarked August 3, 1921, but similar ones were used into the 1940s.
Considering all the clues, I conclude both photographs were taken the same day, sometime between Friday November 20 and Wednesday November 25, 1908. The hand-colored postcard was significantly stylized to give the appearance of a well-manicured lawn, sidewalk, green grass and blue sky. The children shown may even have been drawn in by the colorist.
Footnotes- Personal collection of Mike Voisin, mvoisin@gmail.com.
- “Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal,” database, Central Michigan University Library, CMU Online Digital Object Repository (https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/ : downloaded 16 May 2019), Isabella County Enterprise, November 27, 1908, page 1.
- Personal collection of Mike Voisin, mvoisin@gmail.com.
- Michigan Weather Center, Ostego, Michigan, 16 November 2022 (https://michigan-weather-center.org/winter-storm-watch-weather-history : accessed 28 November 2022).