A variety of children's activities are on offer as part of the Silver City Museum's "Storytelling through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards" exhibit. Children can cozy up in the reading corner with a tall tale story book, listen to tall tales on audio files, pose for a tall tale photo of their very own, and create tall tale postcards to send to friends! Children and their families are encouraged to look, listen, touch, play and imagine with the interactive activities on offer at the Silver City Museum.
"Storytelling through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards" is an exhibition of POSTCARDS that examines an unusual form of visual humor across time beginning during the late 1800s. Visitors will be treated to a whimsical and occasionally thought-provoking presentation that is smart but accessible, visually appealing and-most importantly-fun. This exhibit will be on display from February 3 through April 19th at the Silver City Museum, 312 W. Broadway in downtown Silver City.
Imagine a land... where corn grows to the size of tree trunks; where the lakes are so cold that the trout have fur coats; where deer have become hunters and men are their prey. These assorted oddities come vividly to life in Storytelling through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards.
Storytelling through the Mail is a traveling exhibition developed at the Michigan State University Museum. It features over 80 examples of "tall tale" postcards from around the United States, which demonstrate a unique form of popular humor dating back to the early 20th century. Other items in the exhibit include newspaper cartoons and magazine covers, all of which help to tell the story of the tall tale postcard.
Displayed in complement with this exhibition will be vintage postcards from the Silver City Museum collection. These cards and images, evocative of the exotic Wild West landscape of southwestern New Mexico, are examples of what folks would send through the mail to distant family and friends. They include popular scenes of Silver City as it appeared in the early 1900s. Vintage Valentines from the Museum's collection will also be presented in celebration of Valentine's Day.
Tall tales are humorous stories of exaggeration, fictional accounts that are presented as the truth. They often involve ludicrous or absurd imagery. Tall tales are passed on in oral, written, and visual forms, including the postcards, cartoons and other artifacts included in this exhibit. Artists easily create tall tale scenes on postcards by piecing together regular-size images with enlargements or by juxtaposing two images that would not normally go together. Although illustrated tall tale postcards were common, it is the trickery of photography that characterizes much of the genre. People sometimes assume that "the camera doesn't lie," but tall tale postcard creators have the last laugh, teasing us into believing their lies.
The most common feature of tall tale postcards is that of exaggeration, the use of gigantic vegetables and fruits, farm animals, or wild game and fish for humorous effect. Exaggerated size is dramatized by a fish catch overflowing its boat or an ear of corn larger than its wagon. Because of the size of the fish, the boat rides low in the water; horses and men strain to move enormous vegetables. Other popular tall tale postcards include infamous creatures like the Jackalope and Fur-Bearing Trout, hunting and fishing disasters, or maps that grossly distort the size of a state or region in relation to those around it.
Funding in part for all exhibits and programs at the museum is made possible by the generous support of the members and volunteers of the Silver City Museum Society.
The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the region's unique history. For more information about the museum and its programs please contact Museum staff at (575) 538-5921or info@silvercitymuseum.org.