Description
This collection is comprised of one album containing 146 postcards, mostly in color, picturing well-known landmarks in Sacramento
during the 1900s. It was compiled by Dr. Janis Edwards, a past resident of Sacramento who had attended Sacramento State University,
earned her Master's degree in Southern California and her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. During her
career, she was a productive researcher and scholar, having published a number of books and articles. She taught for 14 years
at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa before her retirement in 2015. Alongside her academic career, Edwards was an artist
who expressed herself through the making of paper, use of various dyes, textiles, her collage type style, and the assembling
of albums.
Background
Janis Edwards was born in Englewood, Colorado, on March 9, 1949, to Phillip Sheridan Edwards and Mary Elizabeth Silldorff
Edwards. As a child, she and her sister, Marilee, moved to Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan with their father, who served
in the U. S. Air Force until his retirement in 1965. During their time there, they stayed in traditional Japanese housing
until they were housed on the base. Upon Janis's return to the United States, she attended school in Fairfield, California,
from elementary to high school. In college, she earned a degree from Sacramento State University and completed her Master's
degree in Southern California. She taught for a year or two before going onto completing her Ph.D. in Communication from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1993. Edwards taught at the State University of New York and for 14 years taught
at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, before her retirement in the spring of 2015. Edwards was a driven researcher and
scholar throughout her career, having published a number of books and articles, often on the topics of gender, political communication,
and political cartoons. She was also an artist, expressing herself through methods such as the making of paper, use of various
dyes and textiles and collage. Her work has been shown in various art galleries such as the DeYoung Museum of Art School in
San Francisco, California, and the Huntsville (Alabama) Museum of Art. After a full career in academics and art, Edwards passed
away on November 22, 2015, at the age of 66.