Postcard History

A magazine for the postcard collector

The First American Declaration of Independence

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The reality is: when people forget, history is lost. It is a concern to historians, genealogists and researchers around the world. The same reality is the reason why we look back and wonder just before we look forward and despair. Keep in mind that our national document of independence did not happen by happenstance or coincidence. Let Postcard History’s Tony Crumbley enlighten us on the First American Declaration of Independence

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One Year Ago This Week

Watching the Dashing Waves.
“Place of my birth, March 30-1850; Home of my youth until 1866.” The town in Holland is noted but I cannot decipher it. 1906
“Fisher Maidens at Kailua Beach.” This was my first Nielen postcard and look at the postcards the girls are holding! 1936
This image of a Hawaiian family was actually sent by Nielen with this message: “Fisher folks mending nets. If prayers were always answered, fishermen would not repair nets.” 1923
“Hawaiians at Home.” You would never find an image of a multigenerational Hawaiian family living in a metal roofed shack in the tourist shops, but this shows real life. 1921
“Wash Day in Squatter Land.” Here is another view that does not feature the “romantic” image we associate with the islands. It also uses what I consider the derogatory term “squatters.” 1923
“Beach Harmony at Kaaawa Park, Is. Oahu, TH.” These are not the typical beach boys but a group of friends playing music. 1936
“Lunch Time in Harvest Field, Odawara, Japan.” Obviously, his desire to capture the culture of the people extended to his travels to all parts of the world. 1919

A. Nielen’s Second Career

August 8, 2019 4 Comments

Mr. A. Nielen’s Company of “Cin. O” manufactured what some collectors call real, real-photo postcards. Nielen cards aren’t the usual tourist views, they show real people and real scenic views. An extra reward for a Nielen card purchaser is on the back of most of his cards. There can usually be found a typed message vertically on the left side of an uplifting quote from a famous person or Mr. Nielen himself.

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Why Is
Postcard History?

Postcard History is a free online magazine dedicated to vintage and historic picture postcards and the many stories associated with them.

We feature richly illustrated articles designed to both inform and entertain postcard collectors and history buffs.

We also provide the most comprehensive listing of forthcoming shows around.

And there’s a rich trove of links to institutional and personal online postcard collections. There’s also a comprehensive, verified listing of active postcard clubs in the U. S. and Canada, which we’re working on expanding worldwide.

Coronavirus impacts postcard shows
Our Show Calendar has the latest information on what shows have been cancelled or postponed. We vet each listing so you can have reliable information about this. We update the calendar as things change. Check back regularly for the latest.

News and
Noteworthy

August 12, 2020

Last Sunday we posted our first quiz in our section “In A Few Words.”  The object is for you readers to research the answers to five questions about the Battle of the Alamo series of cards published by Curt Teich. There is no limit to how many readers get credit for solving the quiz, but everyone who does get the answers will be well on their way toward receiving a certificate as a “Know It All Postcard Historian.” Finding the answers to three quizzes gets you a green certificate to that effect and five correct answers gets you a gold certificate. The deadline for submitting your answers is midnight on August 14. The next quiz will be posted on August 16.

The month of August has brought us some stirrings of activity among postcard shows. There have been three, count ’em three, shows held over the past two weekends. On August 1, Mary Martin held a show in her downtown Havre de Grace store with approximately 7 dealers and about 40 visitors. The next day Maine’s Brewster Harding held his Portland show with some 10 dealers and approximately 40 visitors. On August 9, David Newman’s Norwalk, Ohio drew about 45 visitors and about 6 dealers. These stirrings by no stretch of the imagination mean the virus is whipped, and it’s still true that the rest of August and September look devastated, but they do suggest that collectors, dealers, and promotors can have hope for the future. Our show calendar is updated regularly with news of cancellations and changes of location and dates. It’s your best source for the latest updates.

The Boston Public Library has assembled some 25,000 postcards (most if not all linens) published by Tichnor Brothers (of Boston). More to the point, they’ve put them up on the web for us to browse. Neat trick, they’ve lodged the images on Digital Commonwealth which makes them searchable by place, topic, format, and an approximate date of publication. We didn’t find any postally-used cards in our quick check to give us precise dates, so the library’s date range is what you’ll see. If you’ve always wondered whether the three Tichnor linen cards you have of your town are all there, this is the place to go.

Sigmund Freud is usually credited with the remark that “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Flip that over and you get “sometimes a postcard is more than a postcard” and you’ll see where this article on embroidered postcards takes you. This Etsy blog takes you on a how-to trip through the ins and outs of turning a postcard into a work of art using embroidery. You don’t even have to use an original postcard, the author says a photocopy will do. We report, you decide.

Most Recent Article

Burton Holmes and His Cyanotype Postcards

August 10, 2020 2 Comments

The golden age of postcards experienced a dramatic spike when men like Burton Holmes began selling souvenirs of his travel lectures in the first decades of the 20th century. Every place Holmes traveled was photographs and postcards were made to remind those who heard his lectures how wonderful it was to ride in a horse-drawn carriage across a European landscape.

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