AMSE Exhibits Oak Ridge Post Cards, Scrapbooks

How do you describe a Secret City on a black and white post card, on a linen post card, or in a scrapbook?

See how folks in the 1940s communicated via postcard and scrapbook in "Greetings from Oak Ridge," a special exhibition from the AMSE Archive Collection presented at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.

Post cards of 1940s Oak Ridge lodging, government plants and attractions and a 1940s scrapbook with original drawings and newspaper articles tell the story of the World War II Secret City story in "Greetings From Oak Ridge," an AMSE lobby exhibition on view through July 10.

AMSE visitors get a glimpse of the bygone days of 60 years ago, when linen post cards were sent to family and friends and a leather scrapbook held the collected memories of a young man from Michigan embarking on a career with Carbon and Carbide, while providing for his young family in Oak Ridge.

Black and white post cards and linen post cards were prevalent from 1930 - 1945. Real photo publishing of black and white post cards was successful due to the lower cost of production with the development of fast reproduction equipment resulting in millions of postcards.

Linen era postcards were printed on stock with high rag content that gives them a "textured" feel. Linen cards were cheaper to produce than previous processes and can be identified by the bright dyes used for image coloring.

The linen post cards in the collection donated to AMSE by Ridley Wills, II of Franklin, were printed after the dropping of the atomic bomb in August 1945, as up to that point, Oak Ridge had been a secret city.

Among the postcard scenes are a View Oak Ridge, Mayflower Grill, View of Jackson Square, Guest House in Oak Ridge, One of the Process Plants of Clinton Engineer Works, Power House of one of the Processing Plants, Process Building and Cooling Towers in foreground, Oak Ridge Hospital and American Museum of Atomic Energy are among the linen postcards on display.

On this display of linen post cards, no names to identify each plant were given on the post card, they were only referred to as process plants. In addition to the post cards, there is a plain, dimestore scrapbook compiled by the George Hudson Family, which reveals a wealth of information about life in wartime Oak Ridge.

Through sketches, newspaper clippings and mementos, George and Eva Hudson and their 3-year-old daughter Marian were able to document life in Oak Ridge from the lines, to the mud to the food service and entertainment.

Find out more about the history of the scrapbook and its predecessor the commonplace book and the friendship album in the AMSE exhibition. Did you know that Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Rutherford B. Hayes were scrapbookers and that Mark Twain saw more profit from his scrapbook supplies than he did from the sale of all of this books combined? These are some of the fun facts on scrapbooks in "Greetings From Oak Ridge" at AMSE.

Come face to face with Oak Ridge history and science at the American Museum of Science and Energy at 300 South Tulane Ave. in Oak Ridge. For more information on AMSE memberships, programs, exhibits, activities and events, go to www.amse.org. To schedule a group visit, call AMSE at 865-576-3200.

Taken From TheDailyTimes.com