Studio portrait of a young man in a tweed suit, Westfield, IA, circa 1910

About this postcard

Sepia studio portrait of a young man shown from the chest up against a painted backdrop of clouds and hazy hills. He wears a heavy tweed jacket, a stiff white collar, and a plaid tie, his hair parted and combed flat. The sender, signing as cousin Chris M., calls the sitter "this dark fellow" and hopes the recipient can tell who it is, giving the formal pose the feel of a family guessing game. Real-photo postcards let local photographers print a sitter's negative onto postcard stock, and families often exchanged such portraits as keepsakes in the early 1900s.