Today we’re flipping through some fresh arrivals to the shop: issues of Ebony magazine from the 1970s. In print from 1945 to 2019 (and still published online), Ebony documented mid-century Black life in the United States with the same upbeat and aspirational tone that mainstream magazines once reserved for white America. From glossy fashion spreads and celebrity profiles to coverage of politics, civil rights, and everyday life, Ebony built a vivid visual record of a rapidly changing country. Today, Ebony offers a rich and fascinating archive of the African American experience, along with a quietly radical reminder that Black people’s lives were always worthy of glamour, curiosity, and cultural memory.
Brattlecast #228 - Real Photo Postcards
This week we’re talking about real photo postcards. In 1903, Kodak released a camera that allowed people to print postcards from photographs they took themselves. Portable, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive, the postcard camera democratized—and deformalized—visual communication in many of the same ways that social media would 100 years later. Unlike mass-produced postcards, which tend to show standardized views of major landmarks, these small-batch souvenirs offer a personal, idiosyncratic look at what ordinary people cared about: vernacular architecture, college sports teams, candid family portraits, and much more. Join us for a look at some fun and fascinating messages from the past on this picture-perfect new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #225 - The New Hampshire Trip
At the recent Boston Book Fair we were delighted to meet with some brattlecast listeners, who told us they’d like to hear more about day-to-day life at the shop. It’s a great idea, so today we’re kicking off a short series on our average workdays—not the spectacular finds or the times when the building catches fire, but the stories in between.
We’ll start with an account of a pretty normal book buy that didn’t work out quite the way we would have hoped. It’s something that comes up more and more in the internet age: people with collections to sell will do their own research, see copies of their books languishing online at fantastical prices, and come away with an inflated sense of their value. In these awkward situations, it’s difficult to make a reasonable offer without seeming like you’re lowballing, and sometimes it’s simpler just to walk away (or, in this case, drive three hours back to Boston away). Stay tuned for the rest of our day-in-the-life series, and as always, if you have ideas for future episodes, reach out to info@brattlebookshop.com.
Brattlecast #193 - High School Yearbooks
Called to look at a collection of materials on Boston-area schools, Ken came across a group of yearbooks, including—surprisingly—his own. While they’re not too monetarily valuable, these yearbooks offer a wealth of information about the changing fashions, hobbies, and ambitions of young people in New England, from the turn of the century to the 1970s (the hairstyles alone are worth a look). We’ll also discuss other yearbooks that have passed through the shop—like Ernest Hemingway’s—on this most likely to inform and entertain episode of the #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #186 - The Japanese Album
Today in the studio we have another unusual travel souvenir: an album of large, hand-tinted photographs of Japan in the 1880s, only decades after the country was first opened to Western tourism. Bound in illustrated lacquered covers, these photos—of temples, landscapes, and people in traditional dress—have remained exceptionally sharp and clear, offering us a window into the tumultuous Meiji period. We’ll also discuss the improvements in postal service that caused lavish souvenir albums to fall out of fashion, the influence that Japanese art had on turn-of-the-century painting movements in Europe and America, and a popular new TV series that might spur interest in an item like this.
Do you have an idea for a future brattlecast? After about 200 episodes, we could certainly use some. Please reach out to info@brattlebookshop.com with any questions or areas of interest.