Postcard of a shrimp peddler: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Postcard with a black and white photograph of a man pushing a three wheeled cart. The man stands in the right third of the image and his cart is in the left two-thirds. He stands on a street corner near a house with a large porch. At his feet, in front of the rear wheel nearest the viewer, is a cat. Below the image in the lower left corner is black text "Shrimp Peddler, Charleston, South Carolina". The back of the postcard is divided into two portions. Down the center of the back is a vertical line of black text "'Natural-Finish' Card -- Advertising Service Agency, Charleston, S.C."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: early 20th century
• Photograph by: Bayard Wootten, American, 1876 - 1959
• Printed by: Advertising Service Agency, American, 1900 - 1970
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: postcards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 3 1/2 × 5 1/2 in. (8.9 × 14 cm)
• Place depicted: Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Cooking and dining
• Topic: Foodways
• Object number: 2015.36.1
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.