Brazos Past: Tall-tale postcards from Texas
By Terri Jo Ryan
Special to the Tribune-Herald
Texans have never been shy about claiming their bragging rights.
From the days of the Republic 175 years ago to statehood in 1845, from the Civil War through the go-go oil boom times of the early 1980s, the Lone Star State has touted its towering trees, blustered about its bovine bounty, crowed about its crops and magnified its magnificence on the map.
More than a century ago, during the golden era of the great American postcard craze (1905-15), Texans and other American citizens got a chuckle out of trick photography that illustrated bragging.
Some photo-jokers used forced perspective, while others used a combination of cartooning and snapshots in primitive examples of photo retouching.
The most common theme became gigantism — hunting or riding oversized critters, fishing for sea monsters, and bringing in the impossibly huge harvest.
These “tall-tale” postcards became a popular visual form of storytelling and their influence can still be seen today in a variety of Texas souvenir stands.
One of these comically exaggerated "maps" of Texas was published in Chicago. The other was created in Amarillo by Baxter Lane Co., which closed in 2008 after 60 years in business.
Tall-tale postcards like this one, which touted Waco's Cotton Belt Railroad, also promoted local produce houses, which stamped their information on mass-produced six-color postcards.
Photographer F.D. Conard, of Garden City, Kan., was known for his postcards of giant grasshoppers, inspired by an insect plaque in 1935.
Curran Michael "C.M." Rogers, of Austin, marketed thousands of "Texas Boast Cards."
MORE IN WACO HISTORY: BRAZOS PAST »
Waco History ProjectIn My Opinion
Magazine
New issue!
- Check out June's issue
- Summer swimwear, great teachers, El Conquistador & more
- Link: View the magazine as a virtual flipbook
