Not surprisingly, there aren't very many postcards picturing rainy weather. This is a modern postcard (1990s?), but it is the only rainy one I can think of that I have in my collection. Rainy weather is usually seen in a negative light, especially when it relates to tourism. On this postcard of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, the photographer (© Bob Firth/Firth Photo Bank) has managed to make the rainy day look colorful and sunny. He has also captured activity with the blurry figure in the foreground.
When I decided to post this postcard, I was pretty sure it was the library on the middle of the East Bank campus. I began to have doubts, however, when I read the caption on the back: "UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. Coffman Union on the Minneapolis campus is a center of student activity." Coffman Union is a center of activity, but this is NOT Coffman Union! It is actually Walter Library, which I confirmed by looking at my postcards of the Union and photos on the internet.
Here is a postcard of the real Coffman Union (ca. 1970s):
An here is a photo of Walter Library (source: Wikipedia):
Visit Sepia Saturday for more vintage images that may (or may not) picture rain.
I think there are a lot of misidentified postcards like that out there - just waiting to be corrected by you and other Sepians, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteThe photographer did a good job making a rainy day on campus seem colorful and lively. I love the dots of red in the splashes of yellow. I have a couple postcards of my college campus, but the descriptions are just generic, not building specific.
ReplyDeleteRainy weather doesn't encourage tourism, does it? That really is a colorful rainy day!
ReplyDeleteI love that first photo. No matter that they got the building mixed up. The trees are so gorgeous and the colorful umbrellas add so much to the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteNancy
We all had problems finding rain this week, but you took us on a fine tour of some grand buildings.
ReplyDeleteThe photographer is talented. If you didn't mention anything about rain, I'd never have thought it was raining in the photo.
ReplyDeleteHazel
Gosh my connection was acting up. I was referring to the Coffman Union building (first comment). Now that I see the first shot, ok the ground is wet :)
ReplyDeleteHazel
I think the point is, if it looks good in the rain, its bound to look even better when the sun shines!
ReplyDeleteMy impression of student pedestrian traffic from my son's university is that umbrellas will only add to the risk of collisions, as cellphone use already makes walking around campus very hazardous.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting observation about rain shots used for postcards. I have several I bought in Oxford so long ago. Almost all showed rainy days. They were very arty shots, which at the time was just starting to take off in the postcard field.
ReplyDeleteA great postcard,
ReplyDeleteand I love that you noticed the mistake,
and proved your point!!
1-0 for you!!
:)~
HUGZ
A good bit of detective work! Yes!Rain CAN be colourful as the photo proves!
ReplyDelete