Akron Postcard Club: The Magic of Photo-Multigraphs

This month, the Akron Postcard Club is exploring trick mirror postcards, or the turn-of-the-twentieth-century trend of taking a photo of yourself seated at a table with...yourself. The practice of Photo-Multigraphs dates to the early 1890s as a way of photographing a person's portrait from every angle in a single image. The result will definitely make you take a second look!

We'll be joined by guest speaker, Jennifer Davis, a graduate student who was on internship with the Cummings Center for the Kent State University School of Information this past semester. She'll guide us through the postcards she's found, walk us through the history of this mirror trick, and help us try our hand at our own Photo-Multigraphs!

Visit our health and safety page for up-to-date information on the Cummings Center's safety protocols: https://uakron.edu/chp/museum/covid-19-precautions

Please stay home if you do not feel well, have been diagnosed with COVID-19, or had direct contact with an individual diagnosed with or suspected to have COVID-19.

A wheelchair accessible ramp is located on the northeast side of the building, near the main entrance. An interior elevator provides access to the Postcard Library, located on the fourth floor. A wheelchair is also kept on-site and is available for loan to those visiting the museum and archives.

For more information, see our accessibility page: https://uakron.edu/chp/about-us/accessibility.

The Postcard Library is located on the 4th floor of the Cummings Center in the Institute for Human Science and Culture. The street address is 73 S. College Street Akron, Ohio 44325-4302 (on the corner of Mill and College Streets).

A small parking lot is adjacent to the Cummings Center, on College St. There are also parking meters located along College St. or visitor parking available in Lot 30 (corner of College and Market streets).

UA staff, faculty, and student parking is available in Lot 40, off Mill St.

The Akron Postcard Club is hosted by the Cummings Center’s Institute for Human Science and Culture. This free club invites postcard enthusiasts from Northeast Ohio to gather once a month to explore all things postcards. Each meeting focuses on a different theme: history of postcards, artistic examples, unique materials, interesting messages, and more!

The David P. Campbell collection of postcards contains about 250,000 postcards dating from the late 1800s. This collection represents an historical look at natural and human science as well as global society and culture encompassing a variety of themes including holidays, people, geographic locations, sentiments, and political and social statements. In addition, this collection showcases a variety of formats including photographic postcards and different media used to make them. The postcards can be viewed in the 4th floor library during limited hours.

The Institute for Human Science and Culture (IHSC) is a multidisciplinary institute that promotes education and research in the history, preservation, documentation, and interpretation of the human experience. The mission of the IHSC is to explore what it means to be human. The IHSC promotes document- and object-based, experiential education in arts, humanities, and science. The IHSC is one of three branches of the Cummings Center. Visit https://uakron.edu/chp/institute/

The Drs. Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP) cares for, provides access to, and interprets the historical record of psychology and related human sciences. In addition to the Institute, the Center is the home to the Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) and the National Museum of Psychology (NMP). Visit https://uakron.edu/chp/

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, 73 South College Street, Akron, United States