In this, his third book on historical postcards from the U.S.-Mexico border, Daniel Arreola brings in some fifty years of images from towns across the line from New Mexico and Texas: post cards plus maps and historical photographs augmented by generous regional and personal histories. In a sense, the title of this book is somewhat deceptive. Much more than a collection of postcards and other tourist-oriented ephemera, the book is a carefully researched illustrated history of the Chihuahua border cities, principally Ciudad Juárez. The images are there, to be sure—but the text accompanying the images places this book squarely in the realm of historical geography, allowing us to see this particular place and the attitudes towards it as they change through time.
We learn about the photographers who took the pictures and the postcard companies that purchased and marketed their work. Most of their images were presented for consumption by outsiders, but through them we see the city changing over the course of fifty years. The reader is given a wonderful cross-section of images visitors might want to send (or take) home: street scenes, curios, important buildings, bars and cabarets—especially popular during Prohibition—and exotic entertainment such as bull fights and cock fights. A border town offers visitors from the United States glimpses of another culture; a collection such as this reflects outsiders’ perceptions of an exotic location, and at the same time can shape their expectations. In chapter 11, “Revisiting a Pictorial Past,” Arreola moves past the data and into a thoughtful discussion of the significance of such a collection to the student of popular culture. What he calls a “cache of images through time” allows us to observe specific places as they change, often in reaction to changes in the outside world—including Prohibition, war, and the Depression.
Although the author includes material from the smaller towns of Palomas and Ojinaga, the bulk of the images come from Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso. Some of these scenes might be found in any Mexican city, while others, like the bars, night life, and curio stores were of more specific interest to visitors from the U.S. What Arreola has given us is a thoroughly contextualized glimpse of an important border city as it has changed over a fifty-year period.
As a fellow student/collector of ephemera, I have to admire Daniel Arreola’s patience and perseverance in assembling his collection, an important treasure trove of valuable but generally under-appreciated data. I readily can imagine Post Cards from the Chihuahua Border being used in the classroom to stimulate discussions on a number of topics, including economics, cross-cultural perceptions, and even the behavior of U.S. tourists in foreign parts. Finally, for me this is a fascinating book, fun to pore over, and a return to the innocent, thrilling, and occasionally sodden days of yesteryear on the border.
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[Review length: 474 words • Review posted on May 14, 2020]