My proclivity for postcards will likely last from the cradle to the grave. Years ago, I penned a piece which focused on vintage postcards, featuring photographs of my grandmother's family and friends from the early twentieth century. And here I am, enmeshed once again. Penning a barrage of postcards from Mobile to Montreal, I have been infatuated with postcards since childhood.
And my double first cousin Al and his wife Connie are feeding my fervor. I savor the postcards from their adventures, which have been spectacular. Purchasing a behemoth motor home - even larger and more luxurious than the last - at the height of the pandemic in 2020, they have been burning up the roads, crisscrossing our great country. For the record, Al and I refer to it as "zooping," our made-up word which, as it turns out, can mean whatever we want provided it's positive, which brings me back to the postcards. Photographs, vignettes - they fascinate. And they are a tactile keepsake.
Studying the Smithsonian Institution Archives online, my source which I credit for the historical information in this column, I was spellbound by postcards' early history. They actually stem from envelopes with pictures on them, which were mailed during what is referred to as the pre-postcard period from around 1848 to 1870. Cards were also mailed during this time period, but they weren't really postcards. It wasn't until February 27, 1861, that the United States Congress passed legislation authorizing the mailing of cards which were privately printed and which weighed one ounce or less. A fellow by the name of John P. Charlton gained the copyright to the very first postcard in our country that very same year. Now, the wheels were turning.
During what was known as the pioneer period from around 1870 to 1898, more advances were made in the production of postcards. At the behest of a gentleman by the name of Hymen L. Lipman, Charlton's postcard was reissued under the name of Lipman's Postal Cards in 1870. And in accordance with federal legislation passed on June 8, 1872, the government began producing postcards - officially labeled "Postal Card" - on May 1, 1873. Government produced postcards could be mailed for a cent while private postcards required two cents.
Then, during what was called the private mailing card period from around 1898 to 1901, Private Mailing Cards were authorized by Congress to be privately printed and produced and also mailed for one cent. Each was designated as a "Private Mailing Card, Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898." No messages were allowed on the side of the card that contained the address; any message had to go on the front of the card with the image, if any.
From around 1901 to 1907, there was the post card period, also sometimes known as the Undivided Back Period. The Postmaster-General authorized (via Post Office Order No. 1447 in December of 1901) the wording "Post Card" in lieu of "Private Mailing Card." It was called the Undivided Back Period because messages continued to be disallowed on the address side of the postcards.
But monumental changes were to come during the Divided Back Period, from around 1907 to 1915. This era became known as the "Golden Age of Postcards" as a result of their widespread popularity. In 1907, through a series of Congressional Acts and Postmaster General Orders - a change that started with the Universal Postal Congress - postcards were permitted to contain messages on the left part of the address side of the card. It was also during the Divided Back Period that the "real photo" postcards came into vogue. These real photograph postcards were the kind I found in my Ga-ga's things and featured in my 2013 column.
During the White Border Period from around 1915 to 1930, American printers began supplying the bulk of postcards in our country, supplanting the German printers who had an early stronghold in the market. But popularity of postcards fell with the quality. In a cost-saving measure, printers refrained from printing to the edges of the card, instead leaving a white border frame. But the divided back was maintained which allowed for a written description of the image on the address/message side.
Fortunately, there was an uptick in quality from around 1930 to 1945 during the Linen Period which returned postcards' popularity. Printers were able to make the postcards with an increased rag content so that they resembled linen instead of paper. Curt Teich & Co. was a printer famous for this process. Though some postcards kept the white border, the divided back was retained. Even after photochrom/ photochrome postcards arrived in 1939, linen cards continued in production for at least ten years. Yet it is the photochrome postcards, during the photochrome period from 1945 to present-day, that most of us remember. These feature sharp color images.
So, I swooned when I saw, and recently purchased, three fabulous linen postcards. The icing on the cake - they feature my hometown of Franklinton in the early to mid-twentieth century. All three were written by a gentleman named Bob to Miss Martha Balhan in Gary, Indiana. It must have been summertime in South Louisiana as he penned, "I'm having a swell time at home though I'm almost going into heat exhaustion most of the time. The only times I've had on dry clothing is immediately after taking a bath." That was in the 1940s. Then, in 1951, he wrote to her again, "We fry all day long and stew at night."
Bob seemed to pine for Martha. I wish I knew the rest of the story. Surely, there was one. The postcards were in no small part proof of the value of everyday pleasures. And in my mind, the tale ended in felicity, all around.
