Missionary Photography: Private and Public Readings

The first time I presented a paper on old postcards and someone came up afterward to mention his own collection, I was surprised. Now I expect it. Most of us who admit to collecting cards from Chad, Nigeria, C6te d'Ivoire, or wherever, have probably never given these pictures of colonial detritus a second thought. The products of mass, popular culture, they are considered by mainstream art historians as degraded versions of high art photography....