Hopi children climbing a ladder, Hopi Village, Arizona, circa 1940

Subjects: Children Native American Life
Card type: Linen
Date: c. 1930 (White Border)

Back of Hopi children climbing a ladder, Hopi Village, Arizona, circa 1940, c. 1930 linen postcard — Back

About this postcard

Two Hopi children in striped and patterned clothing climb a tall wooden ladder propped against an adobe wall, the smaller child carried piggyback by the older one. The card's own caption calls the ladder an "elevator," the traditional means of reaching the flat roofs and upper terraces of Pueblo buildings. Hopi villages such as Walpi and Oraibi on the Hopi mesas of northeastern Arizona have long been photographed for their terraced stone-and-adobe architecture and rooftop access by ladder.

Postcard Details

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PublisherFred Harvey

H-2273 TAKING THE ELEVATOR, HOPI VILLAGE, ARIZONA --- HOTELS-SHOPS Fred Harvey RESTAURANTS POST CARD STAMP The Hopi houses or pueblos are three-storied, in some pueblos they are five and seven- storied and contain community houses of half a thousand rooms. All are terraced so that a front of a building looks like a flight of giant steps. The second story stands well back on the roof of the first; the third story is similarly placed upon the second. The entrance is by means of a ladder, "the Hopi Elevator", to the second story. In late years there are doors on the ground floor. MESSAGE 8A-H1704 ADDRESS

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Postcard record

Publisher	Fred Harvey
Series	H-2273
Condition	Very good
Notes	Linen-texture stock with a white border; printed card number H-2273 at lower left. No postmark. Divided back; linen texture; white border; Fred Harvey imprint; unused.

Cite this card

Hopi children climbing a ladder, Hopi Village, Arizona, circa 1940, postcard, c. 1930. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/hopi-children-climbing-a-ladder-hopi-village-arizona-circa-1. Accessed October 25, 2026.