Christina Patoski Holiday Photoprints
name: label: Photographer
content: Patoski, Christina
place: label: Place
content: Santa Fe (N.M.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Brooklyn (N.Y.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Sun Valley (Idaho) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: New York (N.Y.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Corpus Christi (Texas) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Denver (Colo.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Fort Worth (Tex.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: New Orleans (La.) -- Holiday decorations
label: Place
content: Dallas (Tex.)
label: Place
content: Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) -- Holiday decorations
topic: label: Topic
content: Christianity and other religions -- Judaism -- Holiday decorations -- 1970-2000
label: Topic
content: Judaism -- Customs and practices
label: Topic
content: Christmas decorations -- 1970-2000
label: Topic
content: Hanukkah decorations -- 1970-2000
label: Topic
content: Housing -- 1950-2000 -- U.S.
label: Topic
content: Decorations -- Holiday -- 1950-2000 -- U.S.
label: Topic
content: Holiday decorations -- 1970-2000
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated  by Christina Patoski, December 14, 1994.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Patoski, Christina
setName: label: See more items in
content: Christina Patoski Holiday Photoprints
abstract: label: Summary
content: Fourteen color photographic prints by Christina Patoski, depicting front-lawn and front-porch holiday displays (primarily Christmas) in various U.S. cities.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Photographer, documentary producer, and journalist, Christina Patoski began photographing front-lawn and front-porch Christmas displays in 1973, in Fort Worth, Texas, beginning with a house on Diaz Street in the Como neighborhood. She called the photograph "Red Extravaganza," and it inspired her to photograph other houses. Driving up and down Fort Worth Streets at Christmastime with her saxophonist husband Johnny Reno, she worked exclusively at night. Concentrating at first on the most elaborate displays, she later sought simpler, more personal decorations, and became more discriminating. She repeated in many areas of the country as part of an ongoing project spread over many years. She is interested in documenting "unusual" elements of popular culture within a variety of topical fields.

She told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "I've seen so much, that for me to stop and take a photo now, it has to be something special… I've noticed, though, that there are a lot of houses decorated this year. And to me, that indicates a sense of optimism… when people decorate, there's a sense of good feeling." 

Her photographic technique is simple, employing two fifteen-year-old 35mm cameras and low-speed Kodachrome film, using commercial processing. She has been photographing since she was a child, when her father encouraged her. Graduating from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, she spent several years in Minneapolis as a dancer, choreographer, and television editor. She returned to Fort Worth in 1976 to work in television news, but since 1979 has been a free-lance writer, radio reporter (contributing to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered), and a producer and writer.

She is interested in documenting unusual elements of popular culture (what she calls "weirdness"), such as her Texas Monthly story, illustrated with her portraits, on Texas women with "big" hair. She maintains files on longhorn steer, pyromaniacs, tornadoes, and cheerleading, and considers herself a "Margaret Mead of popular culture." 

Sources
Jackie Koszczuk and Janet Tyson, "A Sense of the festive: Photographer captures home-grown Christmas Art," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Section E, December 25, 1993, pp. 1, 4.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (2 boxes, 16" x 20")
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1973-1992
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: These photographs were selected by the Archives Center curator of photography from the National Museum of American History's exhibition, "A Front Yard View of the Holidays," December 11, 1993 to January 2, 1994. The exhibition was curated by Eleanor Boyne of the NMAH staff. The photographer agreed to donate fourteen prints to the Archives Center, and the remaining photographs were returned to the photographer.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0508
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Dye destruction process
label: Type
content: Cibachrome (tm)
label: Type
content: Dye destruction photoprints
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is unarranged.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, 1996.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Color photoprints -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Dye destruction process
label: Genre/Form
content: Cibachrome (TM)
label: Genre/Form
content: Dye destruction photoprints
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The fourteen photographs in this group are Cibachrome prints from 35mm. Kodachrome slides, documenting front-lawn and front-porch holiday displays (primarily Christmas) in various U.S. cities, including a variety of economic, ethnic, and regional groups, architectural genres, and decorating styles, documenting a "unique seasonal custom found only in America." Several images suggest attempts to broaden the cultural/religious basis of the celebration, combining Jewish traditions with the Christmas decorating tradition. Cities documented are Denver, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, Sun Valley (Idaho), Manhattan and Brooklyn, N.Y., Corpus Christi, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, New Orleans, and Santa Fe. 

The Cibachrome prints are horizontal on 16" x 20" paper, with 22" x 28" mats, except for "Holiday Spectacular," which was used on an introductory panel in ta national Museum of American History exhibition, without a mat.