Flood Scene Looking North, Salem, Indiana

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"Flood Scene, Feb. 14, Salem, Ind. 6386." This companion view looks up Brock Creek to the north, probably from the foot of Mulberry Street, about where Salem Lanes stands today. It is also a real-photo card, with the same Azo back as the previous C.U. Williams card. This card was never mailed, and its Azo back confirms the 1909 date:

What's an "Azo back"? This card is a "real photo" -- it is a photograph printed on postcard-sized paper. The printing on the back -- the "Post Card" label, the stamp box, and the text (including, in this case, a credit for the photographer, "Genuine Photo by C.U. Williams, Bloomington, Ill.") looks like it was rubber-stamped onto the photographic paper. We've already seen one real-photo card, the view up South Main Street.

Real-photo cards can often be dated by the design of their back, or particularly of the box for the stamp. There is a very useful Web page that dates the photographic paper stock used for real-photo cards by the stamp boxes and back imprints used by the manufacturers. The Azo stamp box on this card, with its four diamond shapes at the corners, for example, was printed between 1907 and 1909. (3/2/00)

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