R5 Greetings…From New Rochelle

It’s no Google Image Search, but the new “Greetings from New Rochelle” exhibit has visual appeal, be it quite low-tech.

In 1908, there were over 650 million postcards mailed in the United States. As a whole, these roughly five-and-a-half- by four-and-a-quarter-inch snapshots of America created a mosaic of a world 100 years removed from the one in which we live. Now, these postcards from the early part of the 20th century are being viewed not by those to whom they were addressed, but by those interested in reliving a bygone time.

“Greetings from New Rochelle,” takes postcards from 1905-1915 and juxtaposes them against current photographs of the same scenes taken from the same angle by New Rochelle High School photography students. To fairly compare the current incarnations the areas that served as the subjects for the pictures, the modern-day snapshots have been color-tinted to mimic the originals. For each photo, students have commented on the contrasts between the present view and the historical representation.

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Postcards are not all that visitors can look forward to seeing on their trip to “Greetings.” On Tuesdays until August 7th, the producers of the exhibit will show classic films that featured New Rochelle. Then on September 25th, Ned Thanhouser, a descendant of the family that owned Thanhouser Films, a “thriving New Rochelle businesses between 1909 and 1917,” will lecture on the history of New Rochelle on the big screen.

The exhibit, which is being co-sponsored by the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence, the New Rochelle Public Library, the City of New Rochelle, and the New Rochelle Council on the Arts, is free and open to the public Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Museum of Arts & Culture is located in the new wing of New Rochelle High School at the corner of North and Braemar Avenues. For more information about “Greetings from New Rochelle” or the Museum of Arts & Culture, contact the director, Theresa Kump Leghorn, at 914-576-6518.


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