Tag Archives: 1940s

Dance Hall Cave, Maquoketa Caves State Park, Iowa

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This image follows on the previous one showing the same opening from the inside. The collapsed opening is also evident here, though it is too dark to tell if the water level is the same from this vantage point.
There is no description on the back of this card.
Such natural formations as this were extensively developed as tourist attractions in places throughout the United States where they were found. Many became well known, either because of the stature as high quality cave formations, or through aggressive advertising on the highways and freeways being built.
This picture likely dates from the 1940s.

Entrance, Dance Hall Cave, Maquoketa Caves State Park, Maquoketa, Iowa

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This image shows the watery and collapsed opening to the cave named Dance Hall Cave. This feature is part of the much larger Maquoketa Caves State Park in Maquoketa, IA.
There is no description on the back of the card.
Caves such as these often were given imaginative names to encourage tourists to view them. It probably takes quite a bit of imagination to see a flooded cave such as this as a dance hall of any sort.
This image likely dates from the 1940s.

Maisel’s Indian Trading Post, Albuquerque, New Mexico

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This image shows Maisel’s Indian Trading Post in Albuquerque, New Mexico as it existed shortly after its founding in 1939.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
SHOW WINDOWS
of the most picturesque store in the Southwest.
MAISEL’S INDIAN TRADING POST
400 West Central Ave.
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
A large and complete collection of Indian and Mexican handicraft.
MAKERS OF GENUINE STERLING SILVER AND TURQUOISE JEWELRY.
–The trading post still stands, and has been registered as a National Historic Place. It closed for about 20 years after the founder died, and has been reopened by a grandson.
This postcard likely dates from the 1940s.

Continental Divide Trading Post, Gage, New Mexico

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This image shows an early incarnation of the trading post built in Gage, New Mexico where it straddles the Continental Divide, a geological boundary which determines if water flows to the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.

M.W.M Color-Litho “Bursheen” Finished, Made Only by MWM – Aurora, Mo.


The description states:
THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE
TRADING POST
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE
Rainfall Divides at this Point. To the West it Drains into the Pacific Ocean – to the East into the Atlantic
–This Divide is a line that passes through the entire Western Hemisphere, marking the direction of water flow in both North and South America. The trading post still exists in a new incarnation and is still owned by Bowlin.
This postcard likely dates from the 1940s.

Coronado State Monument, New Mexico

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This image shows a portion of the ruins that make up the Coronado State Monument, located a mile west of Bernalillo, New Mexico. It was excavated in the 1930s and opened to the public in 1940.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
A-43 — CORONADO STATE MONUMENT
WEST OF HIGHWAY U.S. 85,
BETWEEN SANTA FE AND ALBUQUERQUE,
N. M.
These ruins of ancient Kuala Pueblo, on the west bank of the Rio Grande, are said to have been the village chosen by Coronado for his headquarters from 1540 to 1542.
East, beyond the valley tower the Sandia Mts., with the summit 10,000 feet above sea level.
–This is the site of many of the best pre-Columbian murals found in the United States. This postcard dates from the 1940s.

Navajo Family and Home, New Mexico

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This image shows a Navajo family posing in front of their traditional domestic building, called a hogan. They started as simple mud and stick structures and evolved in the last century into much more formal and geometric buildings.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
26 — NAVAJO INDIANS ON RESRVATION
There are approximately 40,000 Navajo Indians occupying a Reservation of about 9,000,000 acres in No. Arizona and New Mexico. They are self supporting and derive their living from marketing cattle, sheep, wool and hides.
Navajo rugs woven by the squaws are famed for their beauty and durability. Silver jewelry hand hammered from Mexican pesos by Navajo silversmiths is very much in demand an highly prized.
–The reuse of Mexican coinage for the silver it contained has been abandoned with the debasement of the coinage during the 20th century. Silver and turquoise jewelry is still widely produced along with the hand woven rugs.
This card likely dates from the 1940s.

Laguna Pueblo Baker, near Albuquerque, New Mexico

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This image shows a woman baking bread using an adobe-covered stone oven. The extension to the side of the oven is likely for storing hot coals for further use.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
No. 122 — PUEBLO INDIAN WOMAN BAKING BREAD
These primitive mud or adobe ovens are still used by the Pueblo Indians. A fire is built within, then when the oven is sufficiently heated the coals are withdrawn and the bread or other food put in to bake.
— Such ovens worked by storing heat within the walls during firing, and then allowing the radiant heat to bake the food after the coals were removed. Also of note are the ladders along many of the buildings. Staircases were rare and most access to higher levels or upper stories was via such ladders.
This card likely dates from the 1940s.

Laguna Indian Pueblo, near Albuquerque, New Mexico

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This image is an artist’s rendition of the Laguna Pueblo settlement in New Mexico. The buildings are constructed of stone and covered with adobe mud.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
18 — PLAZA AND OLD CHURCH
LAGUNA INDIAN PUEBLO
Laguna is one of the very picturesque Indian Villages on Highway 66 — the Ocean to Ocean route — and situated between Albuquerque and Gallup. They have nice little farms in the fertile valley near by and raise horses, cattle, and sheep. The women make poetry of a very attractive design.
–The old church referenced above is the San Jose de Laguna mission church, seen in the image in the far background.
This postcard likely dates from the 1940s.

Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico

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This image shows several buildings and, in the far background, the church which served the Isleta Pueblo Indians.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
A-21 — ISLETA INDIAN PUEBLO,
OLD CHURCH IN DISTANCE
Isleta (Island) is one of the largest Indian Pueblos of the province of ancient Tiguex, mentioned as early as 1541. It is located 13 miles south of Albuquerque on the Rio Grande. The site of the Pueblo is one of the oldest in America, and the fortlike Church dates back to 1605-1617 and is therefore as old as any in the country.
–The church in the background is actually the San Augustin de la Isleta Mission, built in  on the ruins of the 17th century structure in around 1710. The spires on either side of the main facade are the result of a much later remodeling performed in 1923.

Navaho Sand Painting, New Mexico

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This image shows several Navajo men working on a traditional sand painting. Originally, this painting would have been made by a tribal shaman as a part of a healing ritual, rather than as a collective effort for public display.

Genuine Curteich-Chicago “C.T. Art Colortone”


The description states:
6–WHIRLING LOG (GOOD LUCK)
SAND PAINTING OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS
The Navajo Indians have an elaborate nine day ceremony, the Yebashi, in which a sand panting is made daily and according to their religion each one must be destroyed before sunset, otherwise it would be a very bad omen.
These are made by qualified Medicine Men in which many colors of sands are used, ground from colored rock. The”Whirling Log” sand painting is one of the very important of a group and is said to bring good fortune.
–The Yebashi is now more commonly spelled yebache, but there is no immediately available information on line about this lengthy ritual.
This image dates from the 1940s.