IN PICTURES: Postcards From Chicago By Tichnor Brothers
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 8, 2013 7:00PM
Last week, Gapers Block posted a link to a Boston Public Library collection of over 25,000 postcards from Cambridge, Mass. design company Tichnor Brothers that focused mainly on vacation spots across America. Separated into states, the collection is a wonderfully detailed look at Depression- and World War II-era America and the impressionist art that dominated much of that time frame.
The Illinois collection can be found here; Chicago's Tichnor postcards are near the end of the set and we could have easily posted twice as many as the 14 we selected. It's worth browsing to see how national highways like Route 66 informed the growth of towns like Naperville and Springfield in the age before the Interstate system and how dominant rail was as a transportation medium at the time. We could and have spent hours simply soaking in the details of these postcards. Enjoy.