Postcards

This section is being added to and is not complete.

 

It seems strange that an area the size of Benton could end up with so many postcards, but you'll have to understand the postcard craze in order to understand the reason.

The picture postcard in this country probably originated as a result of the increased mobility of the American people. Travelers wanted pictures to send "to the folks back at home," and the postcard proved to be an inexpensive way to do that. The cards appealed to the highest and the lowest forms of emotion: benevolence and laziness. The recipient got pleasure both from the picture on the card and by the thoughtfulness of the person sending the card. Traveling was tiresome in the days when these cards were popular and it was both easy and lazy to scrawl a few lines on the card and let the pretty illustration make up for the lack of imagination in what was actually said. Two birds were thus killed at the same time.

With the advent of the postcard, the vexing problem of the correspondent was solved. What to say and how to say it became a thing of the past. A simple "Having a great time; wish you were here" solved the problem of not having enough time to be original in what was said. A half-dozen words sufficed. No one was put off by the abruptness of the message. Everybody liked getting a postcard and everybody looked forward to one, even if the trip was as simple as going across the pond or to Bloomsburg or other nearby point.

The Japanese were widely using picture post cards by 1880. By 1900, the Germans had become the largest producer of cards. The Germans liked the landscapes and the buildings, while the Japanese went for fancy designs of figures and of flowers. Few of the Japanese cards actually made it to the United States, since demand was so high at home. The first German cards were pictures of old castles, rivers, mountains and palaces. The cards evolved into printed words of greeting for special events and that moved into words of love on special days like St. Valentine's Day, often showing lovers clasping hands or Cupid piercing a heart. It was not always easy to understand the message that the card tried to deliver, as shown in this next postcard.

Postcard courtesy of Dale Ruckle

As soon as post cards were issued, people began collecting them. Collectors (deltiologists) of the cards varied in what they prized. Some only collected what had actually passed through the mail, others only wanted pictures of the town and the postmark of that town, while still others only wanted cards that had never been "soiled by the U.S. Mails."

The Macon ( Georgia) Telegraph for September 8, 1905, noted that the picture postcard business had spread to America "and no town in America is without its postcards with pictures of buildings, or some natural attraction, often in color." The article claimed that the postcard business "is very profitable to the post office," since "it takes approximately 120 cards to weigh a pound; this means $1.20 to carry them through the mail. Merchandise pays 16 cents; and books and newspapers, from the place of publication, one cent." The cost of moving postcards through the mail is "in the neighborhood of 8 cents." It was obvious that the sending of postcards greatly added to the government's revenue and offset losses in other areas.

The Kansas City Star of September 26, 1906, reported that the postal card (sic) craze began there "about four years ago." The article claimed that the number of postcards passing through the Kansas City post office that summer was "enormous, severely overtaxing the employees and causing unavoidable delay in the handling of mail matter not of the first class." The writer also claimed that he had personally seen "75,000 of the cards on the distributing table of the city section of the Brooklyn post office."

The Wyoming, Pennsylvania, post office as it looked after a mine cave-in that occured in March, 1897. Postcard courtesy of Heather Radick

Before postcards came along, an artist had to sketch the scene that he wanted to preserve. Many times, there simply was no artist available. Here is an artist's sketch of the above scene. Notice the differences in the way the memory records the scene and the way the photograph records the scene. It appears, in fact, that the artist's rendering may have been made as long as a year after the actual cave-in.

The 1907 Dallas Post mentioned that during the summer months the daily sales of post cards at Mount Vernon was approaching $100 a day. The same story said that a Washington, D.C., post-card dealer kept 17,000 in stock at all times. A person could view the world though postcards, and even in the small towns postcards were everywhere showing every large house and every railroad station. Foreigners bought copious copies of post cards of President Roosevelt during his administration.

Boys walked the neighborhoods and if a small baby was spotted the boys would take a picture, get it developed and return to the house and seek out the mother. The mother would almost always scrape together her money and buy one for 10 cents and some for other members of the family.

The craze for making postcards was on, helped by the sale of unprinted post cards to photographers for only $1.35 a gross. In the local area, the Kemp Studio was very active in the postcard business until the studio burned in the July 4, 1910, fire that leveled much of Benton. Some readers will also remember Paul Hess from later years, who walked the Benton Park each day taking pictures of people picnicking in the park, his black hood covering the top of his head as he carefully adjusted light levels and backgrounds and tried his darndest to get the babies to smile, the matronly women to tuck the corners of their mouths up instead of down and the men in their three-piece wool suits not to realize they were immensely warm.

In 1906, the post office began widely using the designation of "postal card" for the "regular United State card," while "post cards" were private mailing cards that required stamps. To emphasize the point, the Government warned customers that "this is no tweedlydee tweedlydum business--the public must not mistake a post card for a postal card." To make sure the public understood the difference, a Government advertisement found in the Wilkes-Barre Times continued, the "Government can print a postal card; anyone can print a post card," adding "The Government postal card is sacred."

Warnings of this nature didn't work as intended. The Wilkes-Barre Times of August 29, 1905, reported that there were so many violations of the law that the Post Office Department was considering repealing the law passed two years previously which provided for post cards. This subject came up because of continued sending through the mails of postcards "upon which are pictures or language of an indecent, lewd, lascivious or obscene character." Many of the offending cards, known as "postkärds," originated in Germany.

Postcard courtesy of Heather Radick, a talented journalist and photographer whose work is
on display at the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center

The practice of sending "vulgar and obscene" cards through the mail with--gasp--knees showing and bosoms aplenty resulted in these cards being sold in great numbers and may have been where some man originated the phrase, "I'll get the mail, Honey!" In 1905, the post office department was "determined that none of these cards will pass through the mails." The post office announced that they were destroying a thousand a day "in the big department building on Pennsylvania Avenue."

The post office treated offending and "immoral" cards all the same. They were promptly sent to the dead-letter office, although the local postmaster had the sole power to interpret the appropriateness of the card. Some passed muster with him; other post masters dealt with them in a direct and straight-forward manner. This is not an "old" offending postcard, but shows the type of humor that can make its way to a card.

Many postcards got though by simply placing them in sealed envelopes, although the post office advised that "the sealing of the envelope does not protect the offender from the law, and penitentiary sentences await some of the course persons who attempt to turn a pleasant fad into a obscene one."

An example of a 1907 post card sent from Benton to Berwick. The postage was 1 cent. The person to whom the post card was sent is written on the right side with the name of the city where the card was directed. The street name is written on the left side.

The back of the card shows a Benton greenhouse on Railroad Street (now Fifth Street) with the workers in the shop. The location of this greenhouse is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hess. Notice that there was little room for writing on this card and the correspondent needed to scroll around the picture to get his message written.

A 2 cent stamp was required to mail postcards in 1910 and the post office estimated 40,000 of them a day were mailed.

Postcards are characterized by certain design features, so an undated or unmailed postcard can be linked to an approximate time when it was printed.

The United States Postal Service began issuing pre-stamped postal cards in 1873 as a way of letting the public send quick notes. The USPS was the only establishment allowed to print postcards, and it held its monopoly until May 19, 1898, when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which then allowed private firms to produce private-mailing cards. The postcard industry began in earnest. The cards cost one cent to mail instead of the letter rate which was two cents. The term "Private Mailing Card" was required to be printed on cards that were not printed by the United States Postal Service. Up to that time, only the government was allowed to print the word "Postcard" on the back of postcards. Private printers used the terms, Souvenir Card, Correspondence Cards and Mail Cards.

Most post cards were "Undivided Back" cards before 1898, meaning there was no line down the center of the card. During the Private Mailing Card era, 1898-1901, messages were not allowed on the back of the cards, so notes from the sender were confined to a small space on the front. The sender had to purchase a 1¢ stamp for the Private Mailing Card. The words "Private Mailing Card" were printed on the back of cards along with the statement "Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898" and "This side is exclusively for the Address" indicating that messages could be only be written on the front. Writing was not permitted by law on the address side on any postcard until March 1, 1907. Thousands of holographers saw a way of making money and began snapping every imaginable view.

On December 24, 1901, the United States Post Office issued Post Office Order No. 1447 which allowed the words "Post Card" instead of the longer Postal Mailing Card to be printed on the postcards. Messages were still not allowed on the back of cards. This is the first time the term "Postcard" was allowed for use by private printers. Postcards can also be found inscribed "Postal Card - Carte Postale," indicating it was allowed to enter the international mail system.

Major changes took place beginning March 1, 1907, permitted the left side of the back of the card for messages, with the right side for the address. The blank space on the front of post cards, which previously was for messages, disappeared.

Many of the early pictures were sent to Germany, where inexpensive, good quality printing was available. Photographs of things like Niagara Falls or an American buffalo or the main street of an Iowa town would be engraved, tinted, and printed on 4½-by-6½-inch pieces of pasteboard. The pictures were then returned to the photographer, who peddled them himself or provided them to local merchants to sell. Beginning in 1915 and extending to 1930, the previous dominance of the German printers dropped coinciding with the beginning of World War I. Printers in the United States began supplying most of the postcards. The frugality required by the war made these printers save ink by not printing to the edge of the card. A white border began appearing around the image and the pictures on the postcards were described in some detail on the back. The German postcard industry never recovered after the war

As the business of printing improved, postcards with high rag content, giving them a look of being printed on cloth or linen, appeared. Bright colors became popular. Some cards retained their white border, but many were printed to the edge of the card.

The first major use of photochrome-style postcards occurred in 1939 when Union Oil Company began carrying the cards in their western service stations. Postcard production slowed during World War II because of material shortages, but following the war color Kodachrome postcards, almost indistinguishable from real photographs, became popular and widely available. Since 1952, post card rates have increased from 2¢ to the present 26¢.

When the government decided to double the 1¢ mailing charge for post cards, the post office estimated that the following year they would take in $47,000,000 from the sale of stamps for post cards. Postcards were often kept in family postcard albums.

Family postcard albums generally looked alike--they were huge, ugly and had an embossed cover. The book was referred to almost as much as the family Bible, and was often kept on the piano in the parlor at the ready for visitors to be treated to views of the world. The post-card craze lasted well into the 1920s when the albums lost their appeal and were slowly relegated to the attic where bird droppings and traces of mice traffic helped define their true age.

Looking at a collection of old postcards is still educational and interesting. Pictures on the cards show it the way it was. Nothing seems to have been made any different from the way it actually was. The local McHenry family had a family hunting photo, for example, which had been made into a postcard which showed Ira McHenry (the great grandfather of Irene and John McHenry) with a bear. The original picture hung at a local market. In the photo was his son, Jay W. McHenry--who in later years became a bank and funeral director. The original Jay McHenry's grandson, also named Ira, is now deceased, but in his later years in Danville he volunteered at the Danville Senior Citizen Center. One day, a woman came into the center with a box of old post cards. She told everyone at the center they could go through the box and pull out any they wanted to keep. Ira went through the box and selected a postcard of his namesake grandfather, Ira, with the bear! It was a thrilling find for Ira.

People are shown in their patriotic best, entertained by humor we no longer find funny, wearing heavy suits and long dresses when they headed off for a day in the park. Pictures seemed to exist of every Main Street in every town in America. If there was a trolley car in the town, they showed it. If there was a train in the town, they showed it. If there was a park, they showed it. As automobiles entered the scene, the car took center stage. "Big was best," whether it was in the size of the pumpkin, the rocks, the gorge or the animal. On one hand, mothers and their children were popular, while at the same time whatever was grotesque or catastrophic received equal attention.

Cards featuring amusement parks and fairs were popular, and the more absurd the rides in the park the more they were shown. Pictures of Uncle Sam doing all sorts of strange things showed up and depictions of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln made an appearance.

The post cards purchased today are frequently found in flea markets or antique stores where large collections separated by state or subject are priced according to scarcity and desirability. Many are stored in a shoe box, while others are in special boxes constructed for this purpose. The early cards normally bring more money than later ones, such as the first postcards with "Private Mailing Card" stamped on the back.

Messages on these early cards were scrawled across the picture or written around the margin. A typical subject of an early card would be a fire engine in action--steam pouring from its stack-- or an airplane, or ones showing railroads, Presidents, trolley cars or steamboats. Some of the most expensive postcards were designed to be held to the light, constructed with translucent paper sandwiched between two perforated cards so that daytime scenes were transformed into night views when held in front of a light.

A little known fact about postcards is that before going into action during the World War I each Japanese soldier attached to his coat a special post card provided by the government announcing the fact of his death and addressed to the person he desired notified. After a battle, these postcards were gathered from the bodies of the slain and were taken to regimental headquarters where they are stamped with the seal of the regiment, which officially certified to the fact of death.

A local deltiologist (postcard collector), Harold Ackerman, says that many postcards have a maker's logo (called a colophon by the experts) printed on the back. If you find this logo on an old postcard, you know it was published by Curt Teich Co., Chicago, Illinois. The company was in business from 1898 to 1974. After 1930 the publisher printed a letter code on the card (A for the 1930s, B for the 1940s, etc.) to tell the date it was made. If the card was mailed, the postmark or postage rate will date the card. Any postcard in good condition printed before 1915 is of value.

In the United States, there were several large firms which produced cards based on photos taken by their own agents, as well as on photos sent to them by merchants or private persons. National Art Views and Rotograph Co. was two such firms. Visit the website at www.rotograph.org which specializes in Rotograph cards.

The making and sending of postcards was inexpensive and enormously popular. Companies produced them in the tens or even hundred thousands, and of whatever type would sell. There were shops selling postcards as their only line of goods.

The cards featuring the photos of the Kemp Studio, Benton, fall into the category of "Real Photo" postcards, a process created in 1907 by Kodak which enabled people to make a postcard from any picture they took. Harold Ackerman explained that the pictures were taken with a camera on photo plates and transferred to the printing plate. Often the identifying caption on the front is in white and looks squiggly because the printer had to etch that on the plate in acid and had to do so by writing backwards or by using a mirror. There are many other cards which use a lithographic process instead to imitate the photo of a view or to provide artistic illustrations.

In 1999, Harold Ackerman made a card in honor of Eudora Welty, now deceased, who wrote among other things Why I Live at the P.O. (which you can read here.) The scene is the former Stillwater Post Office.

Harold thought that her story and her 80th year "came together properly to be on a card." He took a photo of the Stillwater Post Office with his Mavica, had Connor Printing in Bloomsburg tinker with it, cut out the distracting background, and made up a Stillwater card to Harold's specifications.

In 2002, when the closing of the Stillwater Post Office was imminent, Harold took in numerous cards for hand cancels and did it several times, since no one seemed to know when the actual last day of operation would be.

Here is the back side of the above postcard dated May 10, 2002, but the final day of operation of the post office was actually the following day.

The use of postcards has historically been a positive force, with very little negative about the cards, except, perhaps, for some that were slightly off-color. I discovered a reason for the positive aspect of the postcards as I went through the Wilkes-Barre Times for November 11, 1911. In a decision rendered for the Postmaster General by the attorneys for the Post Office Department, a ruling was made that "hereafter" no "dunning" postal cards shall be sent through the mails by public-service corporations and delinquent tax collectors. Prohibited was anything containing a threat to the recipient or in any way threatening what would happen in the event that a bill was not paid.

Many of the early photographs that will be shown on the Benton News are from photographs of the area, especially prior to the Benton Fire of 1910. Don't feel that the photograph was ruined if the writing covers the picture. Now you know the age of that postcard and you know a little more about the history of making postcards.

If you would like to leaf electronically through years of postcards, head to a web site known as Digital Past where a collection is stored of 55,000+ records in over 100 collections.