Lens & Pen Press

Real photo postcard, circa 1910. Nothing on the back. Scratched in the negative: “Roughing in the Ozarks.”

What a great postcard, new one to me.  My guesses include some of yours:

I’d guess they are from an Ozark town, the clothes are too good for a subsistence farmer; the “Roughing it in the Ozarks” was a common phrase in sporting and urban newspapers of the day, the traveling(?) photographer and/or locals are just imitating it & I’ve seen it elsewhere, but it is another hint of using an urban influence in the backwoods;

They aren’t too far from town or a sawmill with a dimension lumber shack (it looks like a tree rather than a stove pipe in the background) and the setting looks “Novemberish” to me for the campout; the woman in the background on the horse must be local, and maybe she brought the clothes’ pins to hang the textile on a line that is attached to the tree on the left;

The “T-pee” was popular with the emerging scouting and rural life movement that often included something “Indian” in costume, dress, etc.; the stripped wagon-type tent is surely another mail order product; the one girl in middle looks like she’s doing an Annie Oakley imitation;

The boy may be sitting on a “picnic” table, usually not seen in urban sportsmen images; the box on the ground behind the man on right might be a dry goods box of canned food and/or gear brought to the site;

but, puzzling to me is the apparent bamboo or cane poles that could be fishing poles, but why are they bound/wrapped high up unless that was just for traveling?

Regardless of guesses, the card is a keeper and should be published!

KWTO (Keep Working for the Ozarks),

Lynn