Page 15 - Demo

Spiritualism seems to genuinely help some people by providing comfort in a variety of ways, especially in coping with the loss of loved ones. On the other hand, there are those who come away from a s%u00e9ance feeling duped and cheated, while others consider their experience simply entertainment. Because Spiritualism has always had very sincere practitioners as well as deceitful frauds, there tends to be a blurred line between truth and fiction. When combined with the fact that it embraces many faiths, yet has no straightforward set of beliefs, it makes for a complex and fascinating subject.The Camp Chesterfield post cards in this collection are divided into four sections: three containing Buildings & Grounds, and one containing Mediums & Personalities. Most of the cards have never been used, and were likely purchased as souvenirs at the camp%u2019s Gift Shop to retain as keepsakes, or to take home for friends and relatives. In fact, we purchased 22 of them ourselves from the Gift Shop. The post cards with writing on them were cancelled between 1917 and 1975, and the messages generally state that the sender was enjoying being at the camp. Many of the cards are printed in monochrome on uncoated card stock, but some are on coated stock. Most are black-sand-white, but a handful are sepiaor green-toned, and all but a few have divided backs, so they were created after 1907. Some have no printer information on the back, but many were produced by either the Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, New York, or by Artvue, also in New York. Albertype made post cards between 1907 and 1952, when the company was sold to Artvue. The ones in this collection are likely from the later part of that time period. Several Albertypes are hand-colored, which the company began producing after 1939. Artvue%u2019s black-and-white cards date from 1936, when it was founded, and into the 1950s. The black-and-white Real Photo Post Cards (RPPCs) are printed on glossy photographic paper. One has %u201cPhoto and card by Forkner%u2019s Studio%u201d printed on the back, while most of the others have no publisher listed, but they do have a Kodak mark which dates them to after 1950. The front of the Forkner card, as well as the fronts of a number of the unknowns, have a similar layout and style for the caption, so Forkner likely produced them all. Forkner Studios was founded by Wilbur R. Forkner (a former resident of Alexandria) in Anderson, Indiana in the late 1930s, in a location formerly owned by photographer C.R. Reeves. There are also a RPPCs with marks signifying they were made with photographic paper by AZO, a competitor of Kodak.The newest cards are in full color. Those with a glossy finish date from the 1950s, and are known to collectors as Chromes (short for Kodachrome). They were printed by Dexter Press of West Nyack, New York, and were published by local Indiana firms. The most recent cards have a matte finish, are slightly larger in size (4%u201d x 6%u201d) than earlier post cards, and date to after 2009. While they do not have a publisher%u2019s name on them, they were likely produced by Camp Chesterfield itself. Each post card herein has a title, with the publisher listed at the side of the card in small type. Many also have a descriptive caption, or when depicting personalities, biographical information.