Cowboy Globe Trotters – 1912 Postcard

You never know what you're going to find on eBay. Take this item for example, which was for sale a few weeks ago.

It's a great vintage "real photo" postcard depicting three gentlemen dressed as cowboys and posing for a photographer in a studio. But it wasn't taken Out West; the photo was shot right here in Lorain, Ohio.

The inscription on the front of the postcard reads, "Cow-boy globe trotter's," with the Lorain photographer identified as "Brittson," with whom I was not familiar. But the back of the postcard (postmarked December 31, 1912) revealed that it was manufactured by the Leiter Post Card Co., Lorain, Ohio.

So I turned to Paula Short, a Leiter expert and collector, as well as one of the authors of the book Lorain: The Real Postcards of Willis Leiter for help in finding out about the photographer. 

Of course, Paula had seen the postcard on eBay. "The Brittson card is a nice one and definitely caught the attention of the Leiter Group," she noted.

"I looked in the 1909 Lorain City Directory and found that Batie T. Brittson was a photographer at 424 Broadway. He and his wife, Orpha, resided at the same address. Leiter Studio was then located across the street at 523 Broadway. This was shortly before the street names and numbers changed later in the same year. He is not listed in the 1912 Lorain City Directory. 

So why was the postcard produced by a competitor?

"Maybe Brittson didn't have the technology to print a RPPC so he took it to Willis?" pondered Paula. "They could have been acquainted - same profession, only a block apart. 

"More research found that Beatty (Batie) was born in Indiana, had first married Grace Weers and later married Orpha Litzenberg. He died in an accident at Youngstown in 1915 and is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Findlay, Ohio."

It just goes to show you that when you need help with research, go right to an expert. Thanks, Paula!

But what about the three amigos dressed as cowboys? 

I'm afraid I can't find out anything online about these urban cowpokes. The fancy duds (and lack of guns) make me think that these dudes were entertainers, perhaps musicians. 

Or maybe it was just three buddies having fun and posing for a novelty photo – like the kind you can get at Cedar Point or some other tourist mecca.