Tuck's Paintbox Postcards with watercolors included. Encouraging Juvenile artists from Great Britain in the early 19th Century.

One of the earliest and most successful commercial products created to encourage juvenile artists was the Tuck series of paintbox books. The company printed dozens of books with pre-printed images to be painted “within the lines” but the best were those which were enhanced with additional contributions by the artists. The books came with watercolor paint included! Far more personal than a standard card. The examples here, dating from 1905 to 1915 or so, come from the “Tuck’s Postcard Paintbox” series standard card. Hand-painted and mailed! Interestingly, the company also published the “psychedelic” cats of artist Lois Wain in his less trippy days…he was in their stable. Three hand-painted postcards from the Tuck Paintbox series Collection Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Folk Art Handmade Postcard Teddy the Bear dated 1908

Folk Art Handmade Postcard Teddy the Bear dated 1908 Felt with cut paper letters and a hand painted applique. Collection Jim Linderman

Drawing of Haley's Comet 1910 on a piece of Birch Bark circa 1910 Folk Art

A scarce period Drawing of Haley's Comet circa 1910 on a piece of Birch Bark. A drawn by hand postcard. It's a curious one...a boy rushes in riding the comet with a net to collect mosquitos! Of course there was worldwide panic at the time. A good share of the fear came from religious nuts. My favorite factoid is that the impending doom resulted in a run on "anti-comet umbrellas" and protective pills. Collection Jim Linderman BOOKS AND EBOOKS BY JIM LINDERMAN ARE AVAILABLE HERE ON BLURB.COM

Vagabond Rat Hand drawn Postcard

A Vagabond Rat Hand Drawn postcard from a traveler. 
Ohio dated 1906 (detail)
collection Jim Linderman

Cowboy Artist Las Vegas Kim aka J. Edgar Kimsey Postcards from the American West

Cowboy Artist Las Vegas Kim aka J. Edgar Kimsey Postcards from the American West.

Las Vegas Kim was a real cowboy artist active in the 1930s. J. Edgar Kimsey was also the postmaster of the small town of Texon, Texas.  He was more specifically a cowboy postcard artist of sorts…and that is one with a ribald, romping nature too.  The West was his place and time.  As reflected in his work, he was a bull rider too.  The cards themselves are beautiful little relics of Texas past with an unusual primitive printing technique. The cards appear to have been tinted by hand, but aren't.  It is also nice to know Mr. Kimsey had a risqué side.  Several of the postcards here were shared by the Fire House Museum of Crowell, Texas online years ago.  There are a few mentions of Mr. Kimsey online.  One is in the book Texon: Legacy of an Oil Town. and I remember a longer, more complete post online years ago.  However, ANY search with "kim" in it is going to give you a passel of Kim from Las Vegas you probably aren't searching for.
 
Group of Las Vegas Kim postcards, c. 1935 - 1939.  Collection Jim Linderman and from the collection of the Fire House Museum of Crowell website.  I would love to find them all...any out there?  These are now 80 years old or more.  Any help?

An Unfortunate "Art Car"

An "art car" with particularly bad taste.  "Shot by Otto Hedbany and Donald Strable" in near Glidden, WI.  Things not to be proud of.

World's Record Black Bear postcard.  Collection Jim Linderman

The Famous Folk Art Hooker of Canada Elizabeth LeFort and her Tapestry Mastery

Famed hooker Elizabeth LeFort!  Hooked tapestry, that is.  Canada' s artist in wool! 

Her first significant work was a portrait of President Ike.  16,000 loops,  but that's nothing.  Her tapestry of 33 United States Presidents had 750,000 loops!  Not only that, she hand-dyed the wool! Dr. LeFort dropped out of school at age 12, but eventually she achieved an honorary doctorate from the Universite de Monction and  was appointed a member of the Order of Canada.

Watch Elizabeth LeFont dye her wool Below!


Three circa 1965 postcards collection Jim Linderman
Read more aboutElizabeth LeFort at  Les Trois Pignons
 

Outsider Art and Art Brut? It's a Piece of CAKE Paul K. Schimmack Bakes and Decorates an Astrology Chart

As much as I hate to start a new trend in "outsider art" I present here what was likely the first CAKE made with obsessive scribbles.  The medium?  SUGAR.  So there you go…a visionary piece of cake!  

There is an art to making cakes (and Schimmack was good at it) but when was the last time you saw some Art Brut applied with a frosting bag?  Among the proclamations made of sugary goo is that a trip to Neptune at 60 miles an hour will take over 20,000 years, so eat a big lunch before you go.  The artist/baker also indicates the weight of the moon.

Paul K. Schimmack was a bread and cake maker by trade (he was named Secretary of the Washington Wholesale and Retail Bakers Association in 1910)  As you can see here, his shop "The Lion Bakery" was capable of "40 buns in one minute!"   The building no longer stands. A house was placed there in 1922. Still, if one can say "he is better known" for a guy not known at all…it was his astrology art for which he is best not remembered today.  It is fair to speculate the great share of his work was eaten, but this recent discovery of a second obsessive diagram produced over 100 years ago is a good time to explore what is in the historical record.  This one has missed being included in the record as it was consumed after the picture was taken.

Astrology, of course, is the most intricate and detailed bogus system in the world!  Wiki calls it a pseudoscience, which means not science at all.  It is an early scam and continues to be.  I rank it just ahead of "magnet therapy" and Phrenology…the science of bumps on the head. 

Paul K. Schimmack's work "The Weather Shark Predictor" of paint on tin is now in the Balsley collection and it has appeared in shows, in a 1997 issue of Folk Art Magazine and in at least one catalog.  It is something of a masterpiece.  The artist seemingly registered a print of the piece in 1913 as "a work of art" titled Farmers Morning Glory Chart with the US Copyright Office.  It was published by the Schlesinger Company.  I believe "work of art" means a postcard, as the company was also responsible for the once common"Indian with headdress" postcards, though they did also publish lithographs for wall display. No publisher is indicated on the postcard here of his cake concoction, but it dates to around the same time.

Folk Art Magazine Spring 1997

A more typical image from Schlesinger Brothers Publishers

The Daily Republican (Monongahela, PA) of March 31, 1931 gave Mr. Schimmack a nice feature and asked him for a few predictions. "Inch downpour of rain during May followed by a rainy June. July, August, and September will be moderately dry. During November and October the rainfall will be medium and a general cyclone will strike the eastern states, causing shipwrecks and endangering tall buildings. Schimmack forecasts a general peace-making among all nations with the end of the year 1931.  Several years earlier, the paper had gone to Shimmack for his prediction on the Dempsey - Tunney fight!  Dempsey will enter the sign "with the support of the moon" while Tunney has Mercury behind him. 

In 1927, the Lincoln Star (Nebraska) filled lots of space with his predictions.  They called him a "weather shark" and astrologer.  The numerous, if mundane "crop reports" ran for several inches of copy.  Most notable was a "A big flood In California" and "The lion will show his teeth the first part of March, but that month and April will be relatively springlike."

Schimmack was also apparently the "go-to" guy for the Pittsburgh Press.  They called on his expertise in the January 26, 1932 issue.  "The change In weather will start to be noticeable today or tomorrow, however. Prom then on, there will be blizzards, sleet, snow, rain and ice. Eastern States will be paralyzed. "Coldest days will be Jan. 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31; Feb. 1, 3, 5, 6, 19, 22, 23. 24, 25, 27; March 2, 13. 18, 29, 31; and April 6, 7, 9 and 17." The Washington seer also predicted heavy snows in Pittsburgh and New York Feb. 22, 23 and 24. The groundhog will see his shadow; rivers will be at flood stage about the end of March and this district will experience a "white" Easter Sunday, he said."

He was referred to as the "astrological seer of Washington Pa." and that he had been "observing and charting planets for nearly 50 years…he's delved into histories of floods, cold spells and droughts for as far back as 1832, noting positions of planets for each."  Whew. 


The Spring 1997 issue of Folk Art magazine illustrated Mr. Schimmack's "Weather Shark Astrological Chart" along with a notice of an exhibition at the American Visionary Art Museum.   The piece is in the collection of John and Diane Balsley.  It also appears in the catalog of the exhibition.  A large color image of the piece is available HERE from the Ricco - Maresca Gallery. 

"Illustrative Astronomy" by Paul K. Schimmack  Photo Postcard 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

How to Milk a Cow Handmade Folk Art Mechanical Postcard Wisconsin 1907

How to Milk a Cow?  Pull on the Udders.
Handmade Folk Art Mechanical Postcard Wisconsin 1907 
Courtesy Shannon Regan

The Yogi Predicts Lenticular Love for Valentine's Day Carnival Vending Machine Novelty,

The Yogi predicts Lenticular Love for Valentine's Day!  Gazing into the crystal Ball reveals the prophetic picture change.  "Moving" postcard published by the Yogi Company, Wheeling, WV.

Spectacles on Trial! U.S. Spectacle Company Chicago IL Advertising Post Card

Spectacles on Trial!  U.S. Spectacle Company Chicago IL Advertising Post Card
Collection Jim Linderman

Do You Miss Genuine Kodachrome Yet? Postcard Retail Rack Topper

COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

Do you miss kodachrome?  I do…and I am starting to miss postcards too.  This is a "rack-topper" or the card put in the top slot of a retail, revolving postcard rack.  A good price, but then a tweet is free, or virtually so…but you can't pin a tweet in front of you to admire or use the image for reminder, inspiration or show.

L.L. Cook from Milwaukee was a major player in the field of printed five cent pictures.  The first (and second!) L was for Lloyd.  They printed them until 2007

Genuine Kodachrome Reproductions L. L. Cook Company "Rack Topper" postcard No Date
Collection Jim Linderman
 
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Postcard Collage of Clippings Homeward Bound to Alice collection Jim Linderman

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

It was once quite a thing to receive a postcard, and all the better if it was homemade.  This magnificently one-of-a kind card was actually part of a series.  Entirely handmade in collage technique from clippings taken from advertisements and catalogs, it was made for a woman named Alice in South Orange.

Note the handwritten #1 in the upper right hand corner, the only part of the card not clipped, and on the reverse is written "First of a series of instructive postals" but unsigned.  I am going to guess our primitive but accomplished collage artist was literally on his way back to Alice, and at each opportune moment took the time to construct a report from the road.  I like to think one was sent each night.  How far or arduous the journey will never be known.

The date shown on the cancellation is hard to make out, but I am guessing close to the 1900 date.  Postcards were a penny then and for a long time after.


Anonymous handmade postcard to Miss Alice Osborne  Date Unclear.  Collection Jim Linderman

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Phenix Sin City of the South and the Negro Apostolate Divine Savior

Phenix City, Alabama used to be ground zero for organized crime in the south.  You can look it up, and even though the city has tried hard to make you forget it, the stories persist.  Shooting, prostitution, gambling, bootleg liquor... and most of it there because the army trained thousands of hormone-filled young men nearby at Fort Benning, a considerable naive market for the criminal to prey on.  How many towns are called "The Wickedest city in the United States" even taking into account that cesspool of smut up north called Calumet?  (Heh Heh...Calumet.  Sin City and Phenix of the north!)  There have even been movies and songs written about Phenix, and a famous fictional guy named Maggot was from there!

Well, it is no wonder the African-American population chose another course for their children.  Mother Mary Mission and her Negro Apostolate of the Divine Savior.  It is still a happening place, and they even have a Facebook page.

Postcard, No Date.   Society of the Diving Savior Mother Mary Mission Phenix (Negro Apostolate of the Divine Savior)  Collection Jim Linderman.

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THIS IS ALSO A POST ON THE BLOG OLD TIME RELIGION BY JIM LINDERMAN

Meet Me at the Nebraska Fair ! No Native Americans Allowed

Welcome to the Nebraska County Fair in 1905. 

30 years or so before this postcard was created by hand and mailed, the Nebraska Legislature, realizing the land they had forced numerous tribes to live on was even more valuable than they thought, petitioned Congress for the extinction of the old treaties to create even worse treaties...with the following documented bile:

"Whereas, the Indians now on special reservations in Nebraska hold and occupy valuable and important tracts of land, which while occupied will not be developed and improved; and Whereas the demand for lands which will be improved and made useful, are such that these Indian lands should no longer be held, but should be allowed to pass into the hands of enterprising and industrious citizens;...[W]e urge upon our delegation in Congress to secure the removal of all Indians now on special reservations in Nebraska to other... localities, where their presence will not retard settlements by the whites."

Okay!  I wonder how many McDonald's and Wal-Marts have been created by enterprising and industrious citizens on that land by now.

Enjoy the fair!

Original hand drawn promotional postcard, Nebraska 1905  Collection Jim Linderman

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Hex CRAZY Zook's Distlefinks and Barbeque Signs of Plywood

Distlefinks and such threaten to bury a likely commissioned BBQ Pig at the Jacob Zook Hex sign factory and house of crafts in Paradise, PA. I believe I remember seeing that very pig sign rotting away behind a restaurant which served breakfast in a skillet 20 miles past the Delaware Gap! I had just filled up and didn't have the gumption go back in to ask if I could have it, nor the energy to steal it. It COULD have been a "later edition" as it looks like Zook could crank them out.

YES Zook is still in business and has a most handsome site HERE

Zook's hexes have "traveled to the fifty states and many foreign lands" according to the reverse.

Jacob Zook House of Crafts Postcard photograph by Jim E. Hess, no date. Collection Jim Linderman.

SEE ALSO IN SITU: American Folk Art in Place Book or Ebook HERE

A Delicate Balance Curt carries a Chair RPPC collection Jim Linderman

Curt "No Last Name" and "A Member of Our Group" balances a chair.


Real Photo Postcard circa 1920 Collection Jim Linderman

World's Largest Slot Machine on Dull Tool Dim Bulb

So big they had to hire several models just to pull Barney's giant knob!

Unfortunately, I am going to guess it pays exactly the same odds as the little guys, which is regulated by law, which means over time you will leave with about 8.5 cents in your jeans for every dime you play. Or these days, with your plastic "magic bonus super-winner jackpot" card purchased at the door.

Check Your Hose Day! A Good Hose is a Household Necessity (Hose Humor collection Jim Linderman)

Yes, once again it is "Hose Inspection Day" so let's get to it. A good hose is a household necessity. I check mine even more frequently than necessary just to be sure.

Pair of Harley R. Lugibihl "Look Over Your Garden Hose" advertising cards circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

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