A Coon Trees a Possum in Dixieland: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A postcard of "A Coon Trees a Possum in Dixieland." The front features a color illustration of an elderly man climbing the trunk of a tree, reaching for the tail of a gray possum that is sitting on branch above him. The man has a white mustache, beard, and hair. He is wearing a blue frock coat and red pants. He has a bag slung over his proper left shoulder. In the background are green bushes with white and red flowers. The postcard has an off-white border. In the center of the top border is black printed text that reads [252 A COON TREES A POSSUM IN DIXIELAND]. Black text at the bottom right reads [E-5618]. The back of the postcard is white with dark blue printed text. The text printed top left corner reads [THIS SPACE FOR WRITING MESSAGES] and [POST CARD] in the top right half of the card. There is also a box labeled [PLACE / STAMP / HERE] in the top right corner. Text printed vertically down the center reads [PUBLISHED BY ASHEVILLE POST CARD CO., ASHEVILLE, N.C.]. The number [3] is handwritten in pencil in the top right corner.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: after 1913
• Printed by: Asheville Postcard Company, American, founded 1910
• Type: postcards
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 5 1/2 x 3 9/16 in. (14 x 9 cm)
• Place printed: Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2007.7.405
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.