Going and Coming, Nebraska

Two mustached men face the camera in a crowded office, one in shirtsleeves and a waistcoat, the other wearing a dark jacket. They stand beside a wooden counter holding large bound volumes, with a hat resting on the stack at right. Loose papers cover the foreground desk, and a wastebasket sits between the men and the counter.

A Nebraska wall map, a calendar advertising “The German-American Bank,” and a date display showing “22” furnish the room. Lettering on the glass panel at right appears to read “COUNTY CLERK.” Neither man is identified, and the photograph does not securely establish the particular office or their positions within it.

The typewritten message on the reverse supplies the description “Going and coming.” Signed “Doc Black,” it expresses concern about the recipient’s accident and offers good wishes for the New Year. The card was mailed on December 26, 1914, from a Nebraska office whose cancellation reads SO…H AUB… (most likely South Auburn), to Mr. E. W. Keedy in Union. The supplied working title associates the photograph with Union, Nebraska; on the card itself, however, Union is documented as the delivery destination rather than the location of the room. No photographer or publisher is credited.

Small losses to the photographic surface run along the upper edge, with scattered abrasions and scratches elsewhere, particularly in the darker areas. The reverse has localized brown staining. Otherwise sound, with the office furnishings and correspondence readily legible.