“YOUR MESSAGE HERE”: AN ANALYSIS OF THE U.S. NAVY IN PHOTO POSTCARDS by Stephanie Croatt April, 2013 Director of Thesis: John Tilley Major Department: Maritime Studies The purpose of this project is to analyze photographic postcards with images of the U.S. Navy between 1913 and 1945. This analysis will explore how the postcard images portray the Navy as powerful, competent, and happy. This portrayal became more pronounced over time, thanks to increasing photography training and censorship practices in the Navy. As a widely popular medium for the dissemination of “soft news” that would have recruited the public and enlisted population’s consent and support of the U.S. Navy’s activities, the photo postcards analyzed here demonstrate what kinds of messages the postcards would have conveyed. Photo postcards acted as evidence of the sailor’s activities abroad and of the Navy’s power in the form of ships and capable, numerous crews. While they offered proof of a powerful, capable Navy, the images would have also elicited pride and patriotism from the viewer. This, in turn, might have facilitated the civilian’s furthered support of war efforts or of retaining funding for the Navy during peacetime, and enticing more men to join the Navy. For men in the Navy, the pride invoked by postcard images may have helped define their identity as a member of the Navy. “YOUR MESSAGE HERE”: AN ANALYSIS OF THE U.S. NAVY IN PHOTO POSTCARDS A Thesis Presented To the Faculty of the Department of History East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History by Stephanie Croatt April, 2013 © Stephanie Croatt, 2013 “YOUR MESSAGE HERE”: AN ANALYSIS OF THE U.S. NAVY IN PHOTO POSTCARDS by Stephanie Croatt APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF DISSERTATION/THESIS: _______________________________________________________ John Tilley, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ________________________________________________________ Todd Bennett, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: _______________________________________________________ Bradley Rodgers, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ________________________________________________________ Robert Browning, PhD CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY: ________________________________________________________________ Gerald Prokopowicz, PhD DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL: _________________________________________________________ Paul J. Gemperline, PhD To Justin ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank, first and foremost, the Battleship Texas Museum, the Battleship North Carolina Museum, the Battleship Wisconsin and Hampton Roads Naval Museums, and the Battleship Alabama Museum for allowing me access to their collections, and offering their time and expertise on the subject. I would also like to thank my committee members for making this work the best it can be. Finally, many thanks to my parents for their continued support of my academic endeavors. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Methodology ............................................................................................................2 Historiography of Image Analysis ...........................................................................3 Iconography .................................................................................................4 Structuralism ................................................................................................9 Cultural History of Images.........................................................................12 Image Reception ........................................................................................15 Image Captions ......................................................................................................16 CHAPTER 2: The Civilian History of Photography and Photographic Postcards ............18 Photographic Postcard History ..............................................................................26 CHAPTER 3: Photography and Censorship in the Navy ..................................................31 Photographic Censorship, 1913-1918 ....................................................................37 Photographic Censorship, 1919-1937 ....................................................................40 Photographic Censorship, 1938-1945 ....................................................................44 CHAPTER 4: Analysis of the Findings .............................................................................51 Censorship Marks ..................................................................................................51 Postcard Photographers and Publishers .................................................................56 A Note about Dating Photographic Postcards .......................................................61 Quantitative Analysis .............................................................................................62 Qualitative Analysis ...............................................................................................66 Training Station .........................................................................................67 Officers and Enlisted Men .........................................................................73 Race............................................................................................................82 Victory!: The Surrender of the German Navy ...........................................84 Men at Work: The Effect of “Frontality” ..................................................88 The Main Battery and Gunnery Drills .......................................................92 Rough Seas.................................................................................................98 Inspections and Bag Layouts ...................................................................101 Leisure and Sports....................................................................................103 Coaling Ship.............................................................................................107 Propaganda Cards ....................................................................................111 Humor ......................................................................................................114 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................119 Project Limitations ...............................................................................................122 Areas for Future Research ...................................................................................123 So What? ..............................................................................................................124 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................126 LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Photograph from Franz Boas ethnographic study ............................................................22 2.2 Cottingly Fairies photograph ...........................................................................................23 4.1 World War I censorship stamps .......................................................................................52 4.2 Funeral Service on board Texas .......................................................................................53 4.3 World War II censorship stamp .......................................................................................55 4.4 Long and Greer signatures ...............................................................................................59 4.5 Graph of image types that decreased between the wars ..................................................63 4.6 Graph of image types that increased between the wars ...................................................65 4.7 Training station exercises ................................................................................................68 4.8 Sailors spelling out message at training station ...............................................................70 4.9 Sailors in line for chow, c. World War I ..........................................................................71 4.10 Sailors in line for chow, c. World War II ......................................................................72 4.11 Sailors posing with chief petty officer ...........................................................................81 4.12 Surrendered German ship ..............................................................................................85 4.13 Sailors drinking in bar in Panama ..................................................................................87 4.14 Faked gun drill ...............................................................................................................89 4.15 Working with the rangefinder ........................................................................................89 4.16 A scene on the signal bridge ..........................................................................................91 4.17 Damage done by 14-inch gun blast ................................................................................94 4.18 Firing main battery guns ................................................................................................95 4.19 Firing main battery guns, c. World War II.....................................................................96 4.20 Main battery guns ..........................................................................................................96