Birch Point, Larrabee, ME. 6E

Birch Point, Larrabee, ME. 6E

This coastal image shows a sweeping view over farmland with a farmstead and a road, across the waters of a bay to Birch Point in Larrabee, ME.  More distant headlands are visible beyond.

The image is part of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company's massive postcard collection covering villages, towns, rural scenes, and events in all their vernacular detail throughout Maine and New England. Based in Belfast, Maine, and taking advantage of the new, flexible mode of transport, the automobile, entrepreneur Herman Cassens starting sending photographers out across the Northeast to capture images that would appeal to just about anyone wishing to write a quick note to a friend or family member, whether at home or on vacation. The images, exposed on glass negatives, would be sent back to Belfast in batches, with identifying information, there to be carefully lableled (backwards, in white ink,) by a team of women, before being processed and sent out for sale at "2 for 5 cents."  From 1905 to the 1920s the majority of the postcards were mass produced, however some were actual photographs, known as "real photos," to ephasize their authenticity. EIP was the largest producer of this type of postcard during that time. The business comtinued into the 1940s when it was sold. Little did these photographers know the extraordinary historical record they were making of everyday scenes from all over the Northeast.