A.J. Schumann was a Chicago photographer active in the early 1900s. He produced a series of gorgeous sepia toned real postcards of the architecture, and environs, of Chicago and the surrounding area. Included in the series were at least eight images of Major League baseball parks and one of a suburban ballpark.
The postcards are identifiable as his by at least three traits. First is the aforementioned distinctive sepia tone to the images. Second is the distinctive slanted printing adorning the front of the card, usually with the title at the left and the city name at the right.
Third, most, but not all, of the postcards have some version of this stamp on back.
It is very likely Schumann produced his postcards in 1908. Almost all copies of his real photo postcards that are postmarked have a 1908 postmark. All the Schumann baseball postcards in this collection bear a 1908 postmark, if any.
The nine known postcards in the 1908 Schumann “set” include five of the Cubs’ West Side Grounds, four of the White Sox’s South Side Grounds and one of a suburban ballpark. They are as follows:
These A.J. Schumann postcards are the artistic equivalents of the work of his contemporary, Thaddeus Wilkerson, who produced remarkably similar postcards of the New York City environs and several of the New York Major Leauge parks, Hilltop Park of the Highlanders/Yankees and the Polo Grounds of the Giants. The Schumanns are at least as rare, if not more so, than the Wilkersons. While it is not in this collection, below is an image of Wilkerson’s 1910 Hilltop Park image for comparison’s sake.
