The caption of this real photo postcard reads: “Rube St. Clair, Champion Basket Maker of the Ozarks, Coon Ridge Novelty Shop, Ozark Route US 65 … Reeds Spring, Mo. Con Jock Studio.” This is a sharp, well-fixed image from a photographer/studio we have not encountered before. Unfortunately, a search of newspapers.com did not pull up any ads for the “Con Jock Studio.”
Distinctive souvenirs were produced in the Shepherd of the Hills Country and sold at roadside curio and gift shops like Coon Ridge Novelty Shop in Reeds Springs. This shop was owned by John and Mrs. Wallace. She was a teacher at the Crane school.
The shops were stocked with locally made baskets, wood carvings, wares made of cedar, Harold Horine’s colorful drip-glaze concrete pots, and chenille spreads brought in from the southeastern United States. Some of those once-inexpensive souvenirs now fetch many times their original price.
“You will see the natives all along the highways weaving baskets. This is a very pleasant as well as profitable work, as they sell enough to the tourists, or ‘furners’ as they say, to help them live a ‘right smart while.’ The baskets are made in various shapes and sizes, and mostly of white oak.” Pearl Spurlock, legendary taxi driver, tour guide, and raconteur of the Shepherd of the Hills Country, quoted in See the Ozarks: The Touristic Image.
This image and many others are now in the Payton Collection of Ozarks Memorabilia at the Missouri State University Libraries-Ozarks Studies Institute.
Lens & Pen Press books are on sale on our website, postage paid. See the Ozarks is now priced at $22.50, ppd.
