Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice
Humorous Exaggeration Postcards 
Humor and Exaggeration Postcards - Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr.
Major Update: In 2018 I started a new site of A. S. Johnson Postcards. With other people I met via this page which started in 2003 and the book I did in 2013, we have been able to compile a complete listing of the exaggeration cards of A. S. Johnson and have images of all but a few.
Check out this new site - The Art and Humor of A. S. Johnson of Waupun, Wisconsin.


I started this page ten years ago and have not updated it much since. However I am now intensely involved in preparing a pictorial catalog of what I am aiming to be the complete possibilities of what is available to the serious collector of the A. S. Johnson, Jr cards.  I hope to have that back from the printer and ready for sale by June 2013. I will publish more information here when that happens.
So far I have well over 139 different Johnson postcard images. How many there actually are has yet to be determined, but that is the goal to which I am aiming.
Johnson's first batch of postcards was published 30 October 1909, and the last I have found is dated 1923. However, the bulk of them are 1909 to 1913 under his characteristic heading starting with "How We Do Things in". The "Scene on the Road" series occurred in 1915 and I have various stragglers dated 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1921, 1923.
Subjects include giant vegetables and fruits, fishing, hunting, traveling and more.
Still hunting and getting ready to produce my collection to date in hard copy format. Check back.
See a You-Tube program that I did for local TV in January 2013.
 
Update September 2013


At long last, my book cataloguing the exaggeration postcards of Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr from 1909 to 1923 is off the press. So far I have identified 138 Johnson cards and all are included in this book with commentary pointing out the process and notable elements.. This has not been done before and no one knows how many there are. These are depictions of turn of the century rural life full of humor and over-sized produce, fish and unlikely traffic events. This will be enjoyed by postcard collectors and those who are nostalgic about the "good old days." $15.00 for History Center members or $20.00 for non members. Add $3.00 if you want it mailed. You can mail a check to The History Center on Main Street at 83 N. Main Street, Mansfield, PA 16933 or ask me for directions to pay by PayPal. Proceeds will help The History Center.

You can also see a tv program about them on You-Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnHDoqEWfGk

11 SEP 2013 - I always said that the day I sent the book to the printer, I'd find a new card. Actually it did not happen until two days after I got the books back from the printer. "Brook Trout" is the new addition.
 

Onion Harvest from Canton PA - 1911 by A. S. Johnson, Jr of Waupun, Wis.
Plenty Potatoes from Rutland PA - 1912 By A. S. Johnson Jr.
Chopping Corn at Rutland - 1912 by A. S. Johnson Jr.
"Beating the Coal Trust."
Melon Party at North Orwell - 1911 by A. S. Johnson, Jr of Waupun, Wis.
Giant Pears at St. Paul  Minnesota

 
Photo: Giant Vegetable Postcards
Township: Tioga and Bradford Counties in PA
Year: 1911-1912
Postcards submitted by several site guests
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These humorous giant vegetable postcards were all produced by the same person who probably marketed them throughout the country. All shown here have a connection to the area represented on this site. Send in any examples you have as HIGH resolution JPG scans. Don't be stingy with the pixels. 
How We Do Things at Ironbridge PA 
Goat and Giant Peas by Johnson
http://museum.msu.edu/museum/tes/talltale/Masters.html [Tall Tale Photography]
Alfred Stanley Johnson -http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/talltales/footnotes.asp
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/talltales/
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/photo_database/image/the_melon_party/
 

Published On Tri-Counties Site On 06/01/2003
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: Joyce M. Tice

Updated 12 January 2013 and 05 May 2013