Picture postcard of a North Carolina Convict Camp: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This black-and-white photographic postcard depicts a North Carolina Convict Camp in Lauringburg, NC. The convicts sit grouped on a small embankment, wear black and white striped prison uniforms. Several of the individuals have dogs sitting with them. Standing behind the prisoners are five (5) men in civilian clothes. In the background is a large tent and a small wooden building among trees. White text in a lighter colored rectangle at the bottom front margin reads "A North Carolina Convict Camp." On the reverse, printed across the top is [POST CARD] on the left with an AZO [PLACE STAMP HERE] mark, followed by two sections with [CORRESPONDENCE HERE] on the left and [NAME AND ADDRESS] on the right. A handwritten inscription on the back reads: [Lauringburg, NC] at the top, with [70 CONVICTS / 6 DOGS / 5 GUARDS / 4 - WHITE CONVICTS] written in the space for name and address.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1910
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: portraits
• Type: photographic postcards
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper and card stock with adhesive
• Dimensions: H x W: 3 1/4 x 5 3/8 in. (8.3 x 13.7 cm)
• Place depicted: Laurinburg, Scotland County, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Prisons
• Topic: Violence
• Object number: 2010.36.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public Domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.