1923 Prisoners
Unique among exaggeration/humor cards are
those of Johnson's prisoner series. He was in a perfect position to
have come up with this innovative idea. The Johnson Studio, which is
now the Fletcher Studio, was housed in a wooden building that had
been used as a barracks for real prisoners while the stone prison
was under construction in the 1850s.
In a January 2018 phone conversation with
Rick Fletcher, present owner of the building that had been the
Johnson Studio - Fletcher Studio, he indicated that the building has
been relocated a distance of 30 feet in 1851 and that A. Stanley
Johnson, Jr. purchased it in 1891. It was not the same building as
his father, A. S. Johnson, Sr., had used for a studio. Tracie Nichols of the Waupun
Historical Society indicated that it is adjacent to the present
prison.
Stanley had produced many postcards of both
the interior and exterior of the prison, so it was natural for his
mind to turn them to humor. He registered a total of eight titles in
1923, near the end of his productivity. They were apparently not
widely distributed and are very rare. My own collection includes
only one which Mary Ritchie, my scout in Wisconsin, found in a shop
in 2015. Morgan Williams had three in his collection, and in 2017 he
had the incredible good fortune to acquire three more. The Wisconsin
Historical Society has one. The final one, we have not seen and do
not have any kind of copy. We hope it shows up someday, so we can see what it is.
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| A lone prisoner sits forlornly outside his door
proclaiming Home Sweet Home. |
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| Our Ball Team -Waupun Prison did really
have a baseball team and there is a picture, I believe. We
hope to include that when we can acquire it. Note that at
least two of this motley group are holding their bats upside
down, and one looks rather threatening with his. Once again,
Johnson has assembled a group of his friends to pose for one
of his creative ideas. Their images is carefully pasted
over a photo of an actual prison wall. |
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Good Bye Old Stone Pile - The probably
not so perfect escape.
A variant overprint on one version of this card reads,
"Ladies of Means Please Write. We Would Appreciate a Good
Home. Waupun, Wis." |
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| Will Be With You Soon - Another escape
attempt. This time, with a saw on metal bars. |
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| Tough Birds - Prisoners and guards
battle it out. |
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| Welcome to Our City - Smiling prisoners
in groups of five, welcome newcomers. They are the same five
people in each group using slightly different poses or
arrangements. Perhaps Johnson did not have more than five
costumes, so had to improvise in this way. |
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| Two Gentlemen in Good Position Wish to Correspond With
Ladies of Culture. |
| The long and the short of this copyright registered
title, is that we don't have it. None of the three
collectors who have collaborated in this presentation have
seen or have copies of it. If anyone "out there" has one,
we'd appreciate a scanned copy to include. |
| The Long and the Short. |
Additional Resources:
Waupun Correctional Institute
Some Johnson Postcards of the Prison
A. Stanley Johnson, Jr. as Johnson Post Card
Works produced many postcards
of both the exterior and interior of the Waupun Prison. We are
including some here.
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| Waupun Prison Rear View |
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| Bake Shop at Waupun Prison |
