Ethnographic Postcards in Scotland

1

Early History

From 1870s

2

Postcard Use

Messages on Postcards

Postcard Portraits

3

Postcard Publishers

George Stewart

Valentine & Sons

Others

4

Views of Scotland

Wells and Fountains

The Scottish Highlands

Edinburgh

5

Scottish
Life and Character

Raphael Tuck

Other talks:    Ethnographic Photography in Scotland

Other talks:    History of Photography

Edinburgh University, School of Literature, Language and Cultures, Celtic and Scottish Studies

2nd Year Lecture:  February 23, 2010  -  Ethnographic Postcards

Ethnographic Postcards in Scotland

Scottish Life and Character

The Postcards

These postcards all come from  the "Oilette  - Scottish Life and Character Series" published in 1906 by Raphael Tuck.  They produced at least eight sets* of these cards with 6 cards in each set.

Below are a few of the cards, chosen because I found the text on them to be the most interesting amongst the ones that I've seen from these sets.

They are:

1.  An Auld Licht

2.  The Workshop

3.  The Crofter's Grace

4.  Daily Guidance

5.  A Difficult Text

6.  A Quiet Pipe

7.  Granny's Blessing

8.  Come to Granny

9.  Granny at her Wheel

10.  Grannie's Cup of Tea

11.  A Widow at Thrums

12.  The Spinning Wheel

13.  The Sabbath Hat

14.  When the Bairn's Asleep

15.  The Convalescent

16.  A Highland Washing

17.  Washing Day in the Highlands

18.  A Letter to Father

19.  Highland Telegraph Girl

* Set Nos: 9271, 9272, 9343, 9479, 9965, 9995 (HJ Dobson illustrations).  9917 (Thomas Maybank illustrations).  9769  (illustrator ?)

The Artists

Cards 1 to 14 below are based on paintings by the Dumfries & Galloway artist, Henry John Dobson ARCA RSW (1858-1928).   Most of the original Dobson cards are quite gloomy and dark indoor views, often of older family members.   I've reproduced these pictures a little brighter below.

Cards 15 to 19 below are based on an illustration by Thomas Maybank.  These tend to be brighter views, usually of younger people, outdoors.

I don't know who wrote the text for these postcards.  Was it Henry Dobson, Thomas Maybank and the other artists, or was it Raphael Tuck?

An Auld Licht

"Direct descendants of the Covenanters of old are the Auld Licht of today, strong, silent and sterling men of few words and resolute actions, with the fighting element strongly developed in them.

Look at this face, and say if its owner might not have knelt at some midnight service among the moors with Cameron of redoubtable memory."

The Workshop

"This is the joiner's shop, a fascinating place with shadowy corners, the bewitching fitments of a carpenter's bench, a crisp carpet of shavings for small feet to scuffle and struggle through, and in invigorating smell of pine chips in the air.

Here are made homely chairs and tables, clogs and pattens, yokes for milk pales, chests for bride-linen, cradles and innumerable other articles."

The Crofter's Grace

"Some hae meat that cannot eat
And some there be that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit."

Daily Guidance

"In Scotland the custom of family worship may not so generally be followed as in former days, but it is still observed in many households and the reading of the Bible is always attended by great reverence and devotion, religion being ever  a strong point in the Scottish character."

A Difficult Text

"Scotswomen are by no means to be despised either as audience to the Sabbath Sermon or in a week-day argument over knotty points of doctrine.

Many a minister has found himself hard put to it through the close reasoning and closer questioning of some white-capped parishioner who either questioned his reading or desired his clearer explanation of some difficult text."

A Quiet Pipe

"One of the solaces of the hard-working Scottish peasant is a quiet pipe at his ain ingle nook.  He is not lavish in his use of matches but a glowing ember from the fire, skilfully inserted into the bowl of the pipe, serves equally well."

Granny's Blessing

"Not a sup of parritch must Andra and wee Jean, the 'litlin' of the family, dare to swallow until a blessing has been asked upon the simple meal.

Granny with uplifted hands, says the blessing aloud and wee Jean lisps it after her.

'The bread and meat do Thou but bless,
And us increase with holiness
And though our poortith bitter be
We shall be feasting fed by thee'."

Come to Granny

"Granny - the cailliach mor - the 'great old woman' is the story teller in chief in the Scottish household, and of winter evenings she has her whole family for audience, including the delighted and frightened children shuddering at her ghost stories as they lie in their truckle-bed.

In the day-time when Daddy ploughs and Minnie spins, the children are Granny's plague, and care and joy and here we see her enticing the youngest-born to take his first few wavering steps in life."

Granny at her Wheel

"The Scottish peasant woman is never idle, leisure moments seeming to horrify her industrious mind, and from early morn to dewy eve, from blooming youth to feeble old age, her fingers are never idle.

She is busy in her youth in 'providing' for her marriage, and afterwards in attending to the needs of her husband and her growing family.

In former years the clothing of the whole household was all homespun, hence the spinning wheel occupied much of her time."

Grannie's Cup of Tea

"To-day 'the cup that cheers' is to be found in every homestead in Scotland, but years ago such was not the case.

Tea was used secretly and the tea caddy was hidden carefully.  The granny might be seen finding comfort in the tea cup, but trouble was in store for the peasant's wife who was discovered in such extravagant weakness."

A Window at Thrums

"This window in Thrums commands the brae up which every visitor to the village must pass.  To old Jess in her white mutch looking out through her geraniums every figure is a friend from the baker in his smart ponycart to the auld wife in her shawl, from the minister walking along with his head bent, glowering over his next sermon to Elder MacTavish in his Sunday 'blacks'."

The Spinning Wheel

"Scotland is famous for its home industries, although they are not now so flourishing as in days past before the introduction of the machine-made article.

The peasants put in a good many of their spare hours weaving and spinning, turning out linen and cloth of excellent quality, as witness the well known Harris tweeds."

The Sabbath Hat

"The Sabbath is a great day with the Scottish peasant when the family 'gang to the kirk'.  The bairns are dressed in their best, and the guid man puts on his Sunday suit, which would be incomplete without his silk hat, though it may have done duty for many years."

When the Bairn's Asleep

"The Scottish mother is generally an expert knitter, and as soon as the house is 'redd up', the pot on the fire, and the bairn is asleep, the musical click of the needles plays a staccato melody to which the rocking of the cradle is a soothing accompaniment."

The Convalescent

"Just recovering from a long illness, Jeannie is allowed to leave her bed and sit up in a chair. Everyone is kind to her and anxious to lighten the tedium of her convalescence.

Sometimes a neighbour's bairns come in and play with her, and when she is strong enough auld Donald calls, and with wild skirling on the pipes makes her quite forget her pain."

A Highland Washing

"The picturesque method of performing the household wash is a familiar sight in Scotland in the spring and early summer.

At that period, when the 'hoose' is receiving its annual thorough cleansing, the heavier fabrics, such as blankets, are washed in this manner and much fatigue thereby avoided."

Washing Day in the Highlands

"Where house room is strictly limited, many domestic occupations of necessity become alfresco in their performance.

Out in the breezy open the crofters' womenfolk attack the weekly wash without the encumbrance of the confined space indoors."

A Letter to Father

"The 'Private Posting Box' is an institution which proves a great boon to the lonely dwellers in the remote parts of the Highlands.

Attached to the wall or fence at the roadside, it saves a journey of perhaps many miles to the next Post Office.  It is officially recognised and cleared at every passing of the mail cart."

Highland Telegraph Girl

"In many out-of-the-way places in the Highlands the 'Telegraph Boy' belies his description and turns out to be a girl.

Thus Janet 'from scholastic trammels free' in the holidays and out of school time enters the arena of wage-earners, and so lightens the burden of keeping the house."