Sven Saaler Postcards of Japanese Bronze Statues

This collection of 217 picture postcards documents the history of commemorative bronze statuary in late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century Japan.

This collection of 217 picture postcards documents the history of commemorative bronze statuary in late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century Japan. The collection's images depict crowd behavior at unveilings, interactions between citizens and public monuments, and the pedestals and statues of statesmen, military heroes, samurai, and entrepreneurs who were deemed worthy of public commemoration in Japan from the 1880s through the 1930s. The postcards were donated to Lafayette College Special Collections by Dr. Sven Saaler on August 22, 2021. This collection of 217 postcards was acquired by Dr. Saaler in the course of researching his book Men in Metal: A Topography of Public Bronze Statuary in Modern Japan (Brill, 2020). Thirty-seven of the "Sven Saaler Postcards of Japanese Bronze Statues" appear in Men in Metal. The book provides detailed historical context and explanatory material regarding the scenes and objects documented in these postcards.

Parent Collections (1)

Works (217)

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