May 18, 2024
Year: 2021
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I Wonder If She’s Wearing My Badge
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It is often the case that an ordinary postcard poses the most complex question. Literally, a message from an uncle in the first port of call off the high seas to his nephew in the port city of Plymouth, England, became a mystery of identities. And, it remains unsolved. This reminds us that there are…
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The New Town Experiment at Greenbelt, Maryland
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As industrialization took hold in the last half of the nineteenth century, factory owners needed new houses for the workers. Pullman, Illinois planted the seed, but when the Great Depression hit and Franklin Roosevelt became President, Greenbelt, Maryland brought the ideal of large-scale housing and social planning development to fruition. Greenbelt was derided as “social…
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Welcome to the Old Dominion
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Postcard History’s occasional series A Portrait of an American City continues in Richmond, Virginia, near where the Old Dominion Postcard Club holds its annual show on the campus of a community college. Postcard shows, once regular events on the calendars of clubs across America, have been affected in frequency, by the aging of collectors. Let’s…
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Creative Advertising Postcards – For Bicycle Brakes
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In an age when bicycles were a primary and necessary mode of transportation, it soon became every rider’s wish to equip his or her bicycle with newfangled accessories. Most fashionable were baskets to carry ones most needed belongings and head-lamps to light the pathway while riding in the dark. Then, believe it or not, came…
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Wealthy’s Critters on Tuck Postcards
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Field Guides still sell in the millions. The first one (all about birds) appeared in 1902, the work of Chester Reed. The subjects later broadened to trees, then rocks, reptiles, fish and a host of others. Here in America we had Peterson whose art also appeared on postcards, but in the United Kingdom, R. J.…
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The Pickwick NiteCoach
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Recently space travel has been in the news and the two events were financed by men who made their fortunes in ways other than transportation. There is an adage that “there is nothing new under the sun.” The Pickwick Nite Coach of the 1930s was every bit as exciting and the man who paid the…
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A Cat and a Bit of History
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What happens when a postcard advertising a magazine is used to invite guests to tea? Postcard History claims there is a story behind every postcard. Our motto has never been more apropos then here. A society family invites neighbors to tea. The hosts, their guests, a cheap magazine, a fishmonger and a cat all have…
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Yellowstone National Park Postcards
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Thanksgiving is a time of reflection. “We the People” have accomplished some wondrous things in the 245 years since declaring ourselves independent of the British Monarch. The American system of national parks is one accomplishment we can reflect upon and be exceptionally proud. Yellowstone National Park was the first (1872).
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Sunday Odds and Ends – Part 3
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Last September, here at Postcard History’s Editor’s Desk, we started to whittle-down a pile of postcards that have been found, bought, or donated. There are short stories in every card. Some are wonderful, some are horrid, and others are ho-hum. Today we present one of each, but we’ll let you decide which is which. Cast…
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Aurelio Item – Who, What, or Where?
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“Aurelio Item” appears on a very old postcard and provokes a question with five answers. “Aurelio,” a boy’s name of Spanish origin, an Italian postcard, and a story of two old fools who mess with Mother Nature are all pieces of a search to learn what “Item” means!
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The Crusade for “Pure” Milk
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With all the federal and state regulations imposed on the food supply today Americans have few concerns over the food we purchase for our families. That wasn’t always true. In the early part of the 1900s, milk purity was a real concern. In some cases, “milk” was killing us.
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120,000,000 – (One hundred twenty million)
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Large numbers should never scare you, except on price tags. If you really are mathematically challenged, don’t be intimidated even if it is too large to comprehend. Here is a large number – 120,000,000 – that may make you gasp, but after a visit to Niagara Falls you will know the details and understand its…
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Temperance
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The concept of temperance may be defined as life without alcohol or abstinence from alcoholic drink. The first vestiges of “temperance” appeared in the early 19th century when the average American was drinking seven gallons of alcohol each year. Temperance enthusiasts said that drinking led to violence. They were right, but temperance as a social…
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University of North Carolina
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There are cities across the landscape that are joined by commerce, social convention, and history. Often the U. S. Census Bureau honors such places with a designation called a Combined Statical Area. Many such places include a world class university. The University of North Carolina is within North Carolina’s com-stat-area called the Research Triangle.
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The Curse that Rocks the Petrified Forest
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Is there a curse on the souvenir rocks you take out of the Petrified Forest National Park? Every year, those who have taken rocks as souvenirs mail them back with letters that tell how the curse of the rocks has affected their lives in ways quite strange. If the curse is true, postcards make better…
Past Article
The 1950s were less than a lifetime ago and yet the food and the eating habits of Americans have changed dramatically. From breakfast to mid-night snacks Americans and most of the world have come from natural to processed foods and the debate still rages.