A harnessed pair stands before an enclosed Bible wagon, with a man in a light suit, waistcoat, bow tie and brimmed hat beside its rear wheel. The wagon has a curved roof, windowed panels and wooden-spoked wheels. Trees shade the grassy setting, and part of a house and porch appears behind it.
The upper side panel reads “SWEDISH BAPTIST S.S.U.” Below is the Bible Wagon lettering, partly hidden by the man's head. His body obscures much of a smaller painted inscription beneath. The wagon's religious purpose is clear, but the man's name and role are not established.
The supplied identification places the scene in Gothenburg, Nebraska. The partly legible Nebraska origin cancel is consistent with that town and is dated June 12, 1907, at 7 p.m. Addressed to Miss Jenny Wicklund in Mead, Nebraska, the card bears a green one-cent Franklin stamp. The mailing establishes that the photograph was made no later than 1907, though its exposure date is unknown.
A Swedish message fills the right-hand margin and continues across the foot of the photograph. Legible passages refer to being home and to missing Jenny at that evening's meeting; several words and parts of the signature remain unresolved. There is no printed view title or photographer's credit.
- Medium
- RPPC
- Subject
- Faith, Nebraska, Occupational, Outdoor Scene
- Dimensions
- 5.44 × 3.43 in (138.1 × 87.2 mm)
- Condition
- Sound overall, with no major tears, creases or losses visible. Original ink correspondence occupies the right margin and crosses the lower photograph.
- Provenance
- Contemporary postal use: addressed to Miss Jenny Wicklund, Mead, Nebraska, and postmarked June 12, 1907. No later ownership history is supplied.
- Catalogue no.
- MRPPC3471
Catalogue details
Location
Mead, Nebraska · Mead, Nebraska, United States
Photographed subject · Locality (town) · 65% confidence
Rejected: this town is the addressee on the back (where the card was mailed), not the photographer or the scene. The mailing route stays on the journey. real-photo postcard by a local photographer (“Mead, Nebraska”) — these were made in and around the photographer's own town. Looked up as "Mead, Nebraska" → Mead, Mead, NE 68041, USA. Order tried: photographer-town: "Mead, Nebraska" → city ✓; Live research: The depicted location remains unresolved. Gothenburg, Nebraska, is a supplied catalogue attribution, not a town caption visible on the photograph. The partly readable origin postmark and the Mead recipient address do not establish where the photograph was taken. The wagon lettering identifies a religious organization rather than a fixed site: the 1902 Lakeside Chicago directory lists a Swedish Baptist Sunday School Union, and Bethel University's archival guide documents an Illinois organization of that name, but neither connects this wagon or photograph to Gothenburg. ([ldsgenealogy.com](https://ldsgenealogy.com/IL/books/Lakeside-City-Directory-of-Chicago-1902-part-15.htm)) Searches of photograph catalogues and library collections fo
Source: Photographer's imprint (town only)
