Secret Window Exhibit
Congratulations on discovering this secret window exhibit!
I’ve selected these six postcards from our museum’s collection for different reasons. Keep reading to discover why, but also view scans of the originals, read the transcriptions, and learn more about our local history.
Best,
Kevin Matthew Pazour, Executive Director
P.S.- Make sure you visit during our normal public hours to see Ever Yours: Postcards from the Golden Age before the exhibit closes forever at the end of this year.
Postcard No. 1
The Mockler Collection, 2019.2.192
Washington Street looking South, Valparaiso, Ind.
Postmarked Aug. 17, 1915
Do you recognize this stretch of Washington Street? You shouldn’t. It doesn’t exist anymore. At left (just out of sight) is Indiana Avenue and Frame’s Transfer Line horses and cart are on Lincolnway, which was Main Street in this era.
The large building on the right, known as the Academy of Music Block, burned and collapsed in February 1926. Read more about the fire in our Fire History Tour publication.
Why this postcard? This block was the most architecturally-diverse block in all of Valparaiso and is now completely gone. Even the Murken building, which houses Old World Market as of 2023, was a new (and divisive) addition when it was built in 1923. -KMP
“Congratulations, I am going to wait for that boy, am interested in him. It is still raining, nothing new is it? Blanche”
Postcard No. 2
L. Lilienthal, Publisher, 2016.65.1
S.E. from Court House, Valparaiso, Ind.
Postmarked Oct. 18, 1909
Zoom in and look at the detail. What do you notice? The flagpole on top of the Memorial Opera House or the house standing just left of it? How about the mailbox in front of the sheriff’s residence or the different retaining wall surround the 1871 Porter County Jail? Do you see the grain being loaded onto the cart in front of Lindners’ “Up Town Store of Olympia” that stood where our museum now stands? Can you spot Valparaiso University’s auditorium and Old College Building on the horizon? The details seem to be endless.
Read more about the publisher of this postcard, Leopold “Leo” Lilienthal, on page 12 of the July-September 2023 issue of Muse News (our newsletter).
Why this postcard? I will always treasure the intersection of Indiana Avenue and Franklin Street in Valparaiso because our museum has been located here for fifty years as of 2023. -KMP
“Dear Friend—How are you? Hope you have gotten over the whooping cough. Were you at the dance Sat. night? Edna”
Postcard No. 3
Valparaiso University Illustration by F. Earl Christy (1882-1961)
Postmarked Nov. 8, 1907
According to a 1979 column in the Hattiesburg American by Dan D’Imperio, “College Queens” and occasionally “College Kings” were a specialty of Philadelphia-born artist, F. Earl Christy. American college girls, handsomely attired in fashions of the period, including fur boas and fancy hats, were vividly portrayed on the numerous postcards ascribed to the artist. With few exceptions, most of the beauties were from Ivy League schools. It is possible this postcard was created by Christy because of Valparaiso University’s reputation as “little Harvard of the Midwest.”
Learn about the publisher of this postcard, Elmer E. Starr, and see a glimpse of his studio on page 10 of the July-September 2023 issue of Muse News (our newsletter).
Why this postcard? Visitors can choose a free postcard from 40 that have been reproduced from our collection. F. Earl Christy’s postcard has been picked the most since Ever Yours opened in May. I read that Christy frequently created artwork for McClure’s Magazine, which was founded by Valparaiso High School Class of 1875 graduate, S. S. McClure. It’s plausible that McClure connected the artist with Valparaiso University. -KMP
Raphael Tuck & Sons was a business started by Raphael Tuck and his wife in Bishopsgate (London) in October 1866, selling pictures and greeting cards, and eventually selling postcards, which was their most successful line.