Schnell, S. and J. Reese. Postcards are not neutral representations of the places they depict. Schooners, for example, are anchors of the cultural landscapes of New England pelagic fishing industries and were popular 19th century whaling vessels. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95 (3): 626-643. In A Geography of Beer, edited by M. Patterson and N. Hoalst-Pullen, 167-187. Looking for store hours or directions? In this image, whales remain the schooners goal, but the ships armament is no longer the whalemans harpoon, but rather the 21st century tourists camera. Hanging above them is the slogan See Kolob Arch. At the postcards top, a slogan instructs viewers to Visit Beautiful Acadia National Park, Maine. The eye, however, is first drawn to a tall-masted schooner with a crowded deck. To do so, we identify how features in ADGs collection help construct a particular theme. We initially reviewed the entire collection to develop a general understanding of the collections content. Brief Note on the Origins, Evolution, and Meaning of Qualitative Thick Description. Widely available to the public, the postcard images actively shape popular understandings of the national parks. Its clean lines are framed by a backdrop of thick and continuous evergreens. The Emergence of Standardized, Idealized, and Placeless Landscapes in Midwestern Main Street Postcards. Our analysis reveals four themesnatures refuge, Americas playground, American heritage, and mythic spacethat collectively anchor national park place identity. Highly symbolic, often amorphous, and slipping just out of reach like a willow-o-the-wisp beckoning a traveler in a dark wood, the nature of myth defies easy comprehension or articulation (White 1991). Yellowstone National Park, the Every Kid in a Park initiative, President Obamas Fathers Day visit to Two symbols of a mythic American West hold primary positions in the image. Intent on their task, the bears fix their eyes on the water. 1992. Comprised of fifty-nine postcards, the Anderson Design collection presents rich visual imagery of each national park. ----------. Clouds shaped like undiscovered continents are blazoned across an evening sky. Blake, K. 1995. These themes are manifested through ADGs use of charismatic North American wildlife and images of wilderness; depictions of outdoor recreation and use of inviting slogans; representations of American cultural landscapes; and adept use of iconic images and application of light and color. All reviews become the property of Mast General Store. National Parks: The American Experience, 4th Edition. It is a Federal Copyright offense to reproduce or replicate these images without permission. 2012. Our subsequent examination recognized the importance of subjectivity in analysis. Many of these postcards explicitly depict people at play. Pritchard, A. and N. Morgan. The Professional Geographer 61 (2): 216-230. Second, there are the parks eponymous saguaros.
Journal of Cultural Geography 28 (2): 281-309. Geographical Review 85 (2): 202-216. The Local Traveler: Farming, Food, and Place in State and Provincial Tourism Guides, 1993-2008. The way these postcards frame place identity, however, offers only a partial picture of the federal governments larger twenty-first century vision for the national parks. 1976. Acadias flora and fauna are thus transformed from industrial resource to aesthetic resource. We define place identity as the collective understandings of places contributing to a sense of shared belonging (Blake 2008; Antonsich 2010). TheNational Park Service as part of United States Department of the Interior is the authorizing agency. The point of view is literally immersed in the water, revealing a subtropical reef, brightly colored and patterned fish, and a sea turtle. This is where youll see your current point status and your earned rewards. Produced in an artistic style reminiscent of classic Works Progress Administration (WPA) promotional imagery, the postcards were tacitly approved by the NPS and made available in national park stores. Four Symbolic Boundaries of the American West. Studies within geography predominantly use historical postcards as their source materials (Pritchard and Morgan 2003). US Park Pass is an authorized reseller of the America the Beautiful - the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass. This is not an official U.S. Government website. Instead, they project idealized and selective visions of place, where their images are edited for particular meanings. ----------. Social and Cultural Geography 5 (3): 347-355. The beholding eye of the postcard viewer cannot help but be drawn to the bear in the foreground, depicted here a split second before capturing a leaping fish. In doing so, however, we confronted the lesson cultural geographers are careful to remember in exploring representations of place through content analysis: conflating features for meaning (Schnell 2011). We follow Blake (2008) and Youngs (2011) by recognizing that postcards must be examined holistically. Mythic Geographies of Representation and Identity: Contemporary Postcards of Wales. In the scenes backdrop, hazily outlined mountain silhouettes subtly mirror the skys shape above. Those postcards demonstrating mythic space feature heavy use of symbolic figures and iconography. Across the bottom of the image the postcard proclaims that Biscayne National Park is in the Florida Keys. Journal of the West 33 (3): 10-21. The federal governments centennial program, including the NPSs signature event An Evening at the Arch; Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthornes The Future of Americas National Parks report to President Bush; and President Obamas Fathers Day address established new directions for the parks. 2010. With respect to national parks, American exceptionalism is grounded in superlative landscape features (Runte 2010). Like the image of Saguaro National Park, the Zion postcards mythic dimensions are strongest when its image is considered holistically. GeoJournal 75 (1): 119-132. In the background swims a feminine silhouette equipped in scuba gear. Anderson Design Groups centennial postcards present narratives aligning with mainstream understandings of the national parks historical significance. Previous geographical postcard analyses inform our examination of the ADG postcard collection. Anderson Design Groups centennial postcard collection presents the national parks as 1) natures refuge; 2) Americas playground; 3) American heritage; and 4) mythic space. 2003. From landscape paintings (Allen 1992) and magazine illustrations (Wyckoff and Nash 1994) to beer labels (Schnell and Reese 2014) and comic books (Dittmer 2005), visual media in their myriad forms articulate selective visions of place. New York: Norton. Postcards also have the ability to reach a geographically far-flung audience and shape how this audience understands places. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Visual media are cultural texts, conveying dominant ideologies through reproducing selective visions of place (Pritchard and Morgan 2003). Historical Fiction if You Love Old Hollywood, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi on Raising Antiracist Children, Staff Picks: Emilia Pisani Shares What She's Loving Right Now, Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews. Allen, J. Such intertextual references reveal how national parks recreational landscapes can transcend park boundaries and engage with expanded American playgrounds. Captain Americas Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post-9/11 Geopolitics. Human absence reveals the national parks as a last bastion of wild nature. The water flows with enough force to splash upward and soak the bears underbellies. The Acadia National Park postcard resurrects historically significant Maine industries, but transforms them to reflect what is valuable about Acadias contemporary park landscape. Copyright 2000-2022, Zazzle Inc. All rights reserved. Geographical Images of the American West: The View from Harpers Monthly, 1850-1900. Youngs (2011), for example, finds that Grand Canyon postcards are edited to convey idealized images of place. Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West. Spence, M. 1996. Antonsich, M. 2010. Our analysis of the Anderson Design Group (ADG) postcard collection suggests three key findings. It cuts through calm green waters, angling for an advantageous position to view a whales tail breaking the surface. The 2016 centennial offered further opportunity to generate widespread support for the parks. 2020 Amber Share. Zane Grey and Images of the American West. Ponterotto, J.G. Editing Nature in Grand Canyon National Park Postcards. The spawning fish and saturated blue of the fast-flowing river suggests a healthy riparian system, as does the rich and thick greenery lining the rivers banks. Follow@subparparkson Instagram for project updates! Worster, D. 1985. Two definitions frame our identification of heritage as a distinct theme within the postcard series. Promotions included An Evening at the Arch at 2011. Social and Cultural Geography 5 (3): 483-496. Making Mythic Landscapes. Youngs, Y. See our Terms of Use for details. The bears intense focus and raw power are subtly captured in how they hunch over the water, muscles tense as they wait, poised, to snap their jaws shut on prey. Journal of Cultural Geography 25 (1): 1-30. Recovering Social Memories from the Past: the 1884 Novel Ramona and Tourist Practices in Turn-of-the-Century Southern California. Sailboats, hikers, water planes, canoers, and kayakers feature prominently. Hoelscher, S. and D. Alderman. They are known for their original poster art, which celebrates Americas National Parks and features the work of prominent artists from all around the world. We embraced the complexities of postcards by considering each as an individual work of art, understood and interpreted holistically for the collections major themes. Geographical thinking encourages conceptualizations of myth that focus on landscape as much as metaphor. Please try again later. Rider, saguaros, and desert are arrayed on a deeper tableau. 2014. Jacoby, K. 2001. These designs of Americas 63 national parkswith 37 extras of the most popular parksoffer bright, gorgeous art to send to friends and family, or to frame for your walls. The Katmai National Park postcard epitomizes the theme of national parks as natures refuge. Yosemite National Park - Half Dome - Vintage Postcard, Redwood National Park California Vintage Postcard, Grand Canyon National Park Vintage Travel Postcard, Zion National Park Utah The Narrows Vintage Postcard, Grand Canyon National Park Arizona Vintage Postcard, Vintage Zion National Park Travel Postcard, Joshua Tree National Park Tule Springs Vintage Postcard, Zion National Park Vintage Travel Postcard, Olympic National Park Washington State Vintage Postcard, Death Valley National Park Vintage Postcard, Yellowstone National Park Vintage Postcard, Channel Islands National Park California Vintage Postcard, Badlands National Park Landscape Vintage Postcard, Everglades National Park Florida Flamingo Vintage Postcard, Canyonlands National Park Utah Vintage Postcard, Bryce Canyon National Park Utah Vintage Postcard, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Vintage Postcard, Moraine Lake Banff National Park Canada Vintage Postcard, Grand Teton National Park Wyoming Vintage Postcard, Mount Rainier National Park Washington Vintage Postcard, Glacier Bay National Park Alaska Vintage Postcard, Pinnacles National Park California Vintage Postcard, Haleakala National Park Maui Hawaii Vintage Postcard, Bryce Canyon National Park Vintage Travel Postcard, Vintage Yellowstone National Park Buffalo Postcard, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Vintage Postcard, Arches National Park - Vintage Delicate Arch Postcard, Saguaro National Park Arizona Vintage Postcard, Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado Elk Vintage Postcard, Olympic National Park Washington Vintage Postcard, Mammoth Cave National Park Kentucky Vintage Postcard, North Cascades National Park Washington Vintage Postcard, Denali National Park Alaska Mount Hunter Vintage Postcard, Yosemite National Park - Vintage Travel postcard, Redwoods National Park California Vintage Travel Postcard, Glacier National Park Montana Vintage Postcard, Sequoia National Park Giant Sequoia Trees Vintage Postcard, National Parks of The United States List Vintage Postcard, Haleakala National Park Hawaii Vintage Postcard, Cuyahoga Valley National Park Ohio Vintage Postcard, Acadia National Park Vintage Travel Postcard, Channel Islands National Park California Vintage Postcard, Vintage Yellowstone National Park Travel Postcard, Crater Lake National Park Oregon Vintage Postcard, Kings Canyon National Park California Vintage Postcard, Big Bend National Park Chihuahuan Desert Vintage Postcard, Zion National Park Vintage Poster Postcard, Lassen Volcanic National Park California Vintage Postcard, Carlsbad Caverns National Park Vintage Postcard, Petrified Forest National Park Arizona Vintage Postcard, Arches National Park Double Arch Night Sky Vintage Postcard, Vintage American National Parks Collage Postcard, Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park Vintage Postcard, North Cascades National Park Mount Triumph Vintage Postcard, White Sands National Park New Mexico Vintage Postcard. 2009. Dordrecht: Springer Science and Media. Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature. First, by dint of their popularity and mass distribution, we suggest the postcards are one mechanism through which collective place-based meanings of the national parks are established. Most famously, an ambitious ten-year project dubbed Mission 66 expanded infrastructure across park lands for the NPS 50th anniversary. These include revamping outdated and overused park infrastructure, increasing diversity and inclusion, and addressing the consequences of climate change. 2005. GreetingsFrom: 24 Vintage-Style Postcards of National Parks Across Americaoffers 24 vintage-style postcards that map out the features of each national park and share the park's stats as well. Biscayne is one of the few postcards to depict a waterscape. It best represents the national parks as an American playground. The exotic fish and turtle give reasons as to why the diver has chosen Biscayne. This view is from an impossible vantage point, for the images perspective simultaneously captures sights of the waters surface, the sky above, seabirds, and a small personal sailboat. Buy. Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. Obscured by orange shades of sunset, the saguaroslooming like arid Entsframe and surround the rider. Myths are also intimately bound to place and are embedded in the material world just as much as in the terrain of the mind. The postcards perspective captures a vision of Biscayne that invites the viewer to join the diver in a subtropical playground. Graham, B. Geographical Review 102 (4): 486-509. Environmental historians and historical geographers have long recognized the role of nature in consolidating a sense of American national identity (Cronon 1995). The second most visible theme of ADG's postcard collection is that of an American playground. These exhort viewers to immerse themselves into a particular park experience. Select one of our locations. The bowl of golden sky pours through Kolob Arch. Horizons of the Sublime: The Invention of the Romantic West. All rights reserved. Runte, A. The American Southwests Monument Valley, for example, has been cited as a mythic landscape par excellence (Blake 2014). Fifty-Nine Parks More about Fifty-Nine Parks, Sign up for news about books, authors, and more from Penguin Random House, Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network. Suitable for mailing, framing, or using as gift tags, National Parks: Acadia, Arches, Denali, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountain, Hawai'i Volcanoes, Olympic, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone & Yosemite. The divers presence suggests that Biscayne is best enjoyed through a literal immersion into place. First, we employ content analysis to identify the postcards major themes. Framing the Past: Time, Space, and the Politics of Heritage Tourism in Ireland. Wilderness and the American Mind, 5th Edition. Second, we interpret these features to understand how they contribute to national park place identity. The interplay of shadow and light on the vegetation and water, the orange sky above, and the warm hues that highlight the bears richly textured hides all suggest a crepuscular scene moments before an unseen sun sinks below the horizon (Figure 1). The postcard imbues a sense of playfulness into the scene through the use of subject matter, color, and intertextual associations with place. Anderson Design Groups centennial postcard collection provides the source materials for our content analysis. Its rich color palette and framing of light through an arch helps tap into deeply held Judeo-Christian notions of the divine. Dittmer, J. Murdoch, D. 2001. 2014. - 4 x 6" standard postcard- Vibrant digital print on 16pt matte cardstock, ***Please select your park from the dropdown list - you cannot select a park byscrolling through the images.***. Kept in a scrapbook, magnetized to a refrigerator door, or mailed to friends and family, postcards like the Anderson Design Group collection are a source and shaper of place identity. New Haven: Yale University Press. To experience Biscayne is also to engage with the Florida Keys and partake of its recreational amenities for adventurous tourists and snowbirds. Just for joining youll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members. The postcard image of Sequoia National Park is the strongest example of this phenomenon (Figure 4). To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. We felt our initial quantitative approach failed to capture the greater themes embedded in the collection. The Qualitative Report 11(3): 538-549. The Badlands National Park postcard instructs viewers to Enjoy the Good Life. The Carlsbad Caverns postcard encourages viewers to Walk the Hall of Giants. Slogans and invitations like these offer a direct link between the viewer and the parks. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 66 (2): 266-276. In the following sections, we examine how selected postcards exemplify a particular theme of the national parks. This theme primarily taps into deeply rooted wilderness attitudes towards nature and affirms popularly entrenched assumptions that humans and nature are separate and oppositional entities (Cronon 1995). Imagining Heaven and Earth at the Mount of the Holy Cross, Colorado. You will be notified when your order is ready for pickup. Environmental History 1 (3): 29-49. Through invoking the Florida Keys toponym, Biscayne becomes linked with a popular vacation destination. Apr 27, 2021 The association between the Florida Keys and Biscayne, meanwhile, introduces an intertextual element to what it means to be in Biscayne National Park. Picturing Place: Photography and the Geographical Imagination. By clicking SIGN UP,I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random Houses, Editor's Picks: Science Fiction & Fantasy. The Acadia National Park and Sequoia National Park postcards depict historically significant objects and sites and serve as strong examples of American heritage. The wider landscape is a desert, affirming widespread understandings of aridity as a defining feature of the American West (Worster 1985; Wright 2014). Second, our content analysis of the postcards suggests four facets of national park place identity: 1) natures refuge; 2) Americas playground; 3) American heritage; and 4) mythic space. Graham (2002) suggests heritage is defined best as contemporary use of the past, while Johnson (1999) calls heritage an ideological framing of identity. create an account
The fishes bright colors and scattered arrangement across the images foreground draws the eye like thrown confetti. Postcards (Blake 2008; Youngs 2011; Youngs 2012) also manufacture and project place identity. We want to make sure you know:
Thanks to national park protections, the backdrop of evergreens no longer holds value as a rich source of timber (Cronon 1983). Reno: University of Nevada Press. 2008. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. In Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About the West, edited by G. Hausladen, 296-318. Visually centered on crepuscular rays streaming through iconic Kolob Arch, this scene draws on long established traditions of romanticism in depicting Western landscapes (Cronon 1995). What emerges is a moral geography, where postwar middle-class recreation is privileged (Spence 1996; Jacoby 2001). In particular, we examine a series of commemorative centennial postcards produced by the private studio Anderson Design Group. 2014. Greetings From: 24 Vintage-Style Postcards of National Parks Across America. Please login or
Although these two narratives remain disconnected in key ways, we believe the tensions between Anderson Design Groups postcard collection and the federal governments centennial initiatives do not represent a lasting failure, but instead reveal opportunities for future reconciliation between promotion and policy. Biscayne National Park is the most playful of the entire collection (Figure 2). In 2016 the National Park Service (NPS) celebrated its 100th year of existence. A colorful and funny national park one star review illustration postcard, perfect for the national parks lover in your life! Uniquely Designed National Park Postcards, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Postcard, Gates of the Arctic National Park Postcard, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Postcard, Great Smoky Mountain National Park Postcard, Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device, choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. Decrease quantity for Subpar Parks US National Park Postcard (SINGLES), Increase quantity for Subpar Parks US National Park Postcard (SINGLES). Second, we complement existing geographical postcard analysis by using a contemporary case study. Sign up for updates on the parks, tips for planning your trip and special offers and promotions. Historically significant use of park landscapes, including subsistence lifeways, are left out of the slogans narrative. Where the Cowboy Rides Away: Mythic Places for Western Film. The massive tree and miniaturized slogan work together to proclaim this sequoia as the worlds biggest, establishing this national park as the root of an American national identity grounded in monumental nature (Nash 2014; Runte 2010). New York: Oxford University Press. First, there is the silhouette of a lone rider, an icon wedded to discourses of a masculine frontier central to construction of popular understandings of the West as a region (Blake 1995; Hausladen 2003). An homage to the unique beauty of our public lands, these 100 beautifully illustrated postcards feature timeless designs of all 63 of Americas national parks.Send postcards of Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Everglades, Acadia, and more with this iconic set of 100 postcards. As representative of the national park system, this postcard shapes wider perceptions of not only Kolob Arch and Zion, but also of Western landscapes more generally.
Berkeley: University of California Press. Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, National Park Service - Park Unit Boundaries, Map of Katmai National Park and Preserve (1994), Topographic Map of Acadia National Park (1931). Postcards most representative of this theme depict charismatic wildlife; images of pristine wilderness; powerful geologic and fluvial processes; and an absence of humans and human activity. In North American Odyssey: Historical Geographies for the Twenty-First Century, edited by C. Colton and G. Buckley, 251-271. 2006. 2002. The authors thank Joel Anderson of Anderson Design Group for his enthusiastic support and his permission to use Anderson Design Group artwork and colleague Laurel Angell for her input on an earlier draft of this paper. Postcards representative of American heritage space are also laden with a sense of American exceptionalism, which aligns with Johnsons (1999) definition of heritage as an ideological framing of identity. Heritage as Knowledge: Capital or Culture? Four significant themes emerged from our revised qualitative content analysis that understands postcards as shapers of national park place identity. One can imagine their frenetic and desperate movements as they launch themselves into air. Through light, color, and shadow, the sky, water, bears, and fish are all imbued with a sense of movement. 2003. Serving as souvenirs, postcards are small, easily stored linkages between places and people. Indulge in a little vintage whimsy with this post card set. Fifty-Nine Parks believes public lands and the art of printmaking are worth preserving. Three mature grizzlies dominate the scene as they hunt for spawning salmon forcing their way upstream. Wyckoff, W. and C. Nash. Their utility and popularity may also be explained by postcards material form and the implications it has for social memory. Johnson, N. 1999. Framed by two tree trunks reminiscent of the columns of a Greek temple, the General Sherman tree dominates the scene and towers high above a miniaturized person and station wagon. Furthermore, Katmai and the other national parks postcards convey a distinctly American nature. London: IB Tauris. Successfully marketed to a large audience, the postcards visual narrative shapes the meanings of national parks at the centennial. Yosemite National Park, and a wide array of visual and textual material including books, films, social media campaigns, stamps, and postcards. Memories and Place: Geographies of a Critical Relationship. 2004. The visions present in the postcards reach audiences across the world, offering a powerful reminder of the role visual imagery has in contributing to geographic imaginations. These materials are critical sources shaping popular understandings of the national parks. Tuan, Y.F. On Grand Canyon Postcards. 2011. Hausladen, G. 2003. Myths are integral to many cultural landscapes. Urban Studies 39 (5-6): 1003-1017. They are also a primary means of constructing social memories, particularly about place, that are crucial to identity formation (Hoelscher and Alderman 2004). Rays of light illuminate a verdant pine forest. In this scene from Katmai, there are no humans to interfere with the life-and-death struggle playing out between two charismatic beings in the waning daylight of the Alaskan backcountry. The vision of the national parks as natures refuge is the most prominent theme of the postcard collection. Lanham: Rowman Littlefield and Sons. This article interrogates centennial promotion efforts to understand dominant place-based narratives associated with the national parks. ----------. Your review requires staff approval before posting. Katmai National Park presents an untrammeled and dynamic nature, where fluvial and biological processes intertwine and continue unabated. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 1 (2): 111-130. Centennial promotion took many forms. And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week. These slogans promote a set of activities deemed proper in park landscapes. Many postcards also include slogans or invitations to the viewer. No less significant is what goes unsaid by these slogans. Wright, J. Journal of Historical Geography 18 (1): 27-40. Mythic space is also captured in the image of Zion National Park (Figure 6). The American West: The Invention of a Myth. Cronon, W. 1983. Use these creative cards to put your own stamp on your shared travelsor simply collect these quaint treasures for yourself. Each postcard includes a fact about the park on the back for an educational and inspiring collection. Mythic space is the final dominant theme present in the centennial postcard collection, and all postcards laden with this theme showcase western landscapes and support the claim that the American West is arguably the most mythic ever created by a nation from its past (Murdoch 2001, quoted in Blake 2014 p. 261). A third significant theme is that of a distinct American heritage.
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