Finding Treasure in your Mailbox

Postcards Never go out of Fashion

by Marilyn Loeser

Postcards.

You find them at tourist information centers, souvenir shops and major attractions. Tourists buy them for their scrapbooks, to show to friends and as inexpensive mementos to send their loved ones back home. Others use postcards to send holiday and birthday greetings.

Postcards have been used for corresponding with loved ones since John P. Charlton of Philadelphia patented the postcard in 1861.

I love sending postcards, especially while traveling. And I’m very organized. If I’m traveling in the United States, I buy my postcard rate stamps ahead of time, I make address labels for each person I want to send a postcard to and fit everything, along with a few sheets of stationary and envelopes into a pocket folder and tuck it all into my suitcase. Ditto for foreign destinations except, of course, I buy my stamps when I reach my destination.

Even when it gets a little pricey, especially when you’re in a foreign country, it’s a lot less expensive — and nerve-racking — than trying to figure out what everyone back home might enjoy as a token of remembrance from your travels. Plus, with new luggage regulations and fees, it’s a stress free way to let everyone know you remembered them and let the Postal Service take care of the delivery.

Postcard collecting

One of the most popular hobbies in the world is postcard collecting. There are more than 150 deltiology, or postcard-collecting, clubs in the United States alone. As with most antique categories, age is only one factor in evaluating old post cards. Other considerations are condition, artistic quality, manufacturer, and probably most important of all, subject matter.

Buy cards that are interesting to you like a historic picture of your home town.

More than any other antique, postcards are collected by category: advertising, movie stars, aviation, dogs and major cities. The list is endless.

And, there are other reasons for their popularity.

They’re small. More often than not, they’ve been mailed, so there’s a personal message, a postmark and stamp making the age undeniable. And almost any subject imaginable has been, at some time, portrayed on a postcard.

History itself can be tracked on postcards.

It certainly was for me when I started reading my mother’s correspondence on the back of these small pieces of decorated cardboard after she passed away. I knew she loved getting postcards, but I didn’t know how extensive her collection was.

Postcard history

After Charlton patented the postcard in 1861, he sold the rights to H. L. Lipman. Nine years later European countries were also producing postcards.

The Post Office Department — as the United States Postal Service was known before 1971 — began issuing pre-stamped postal cards in 1873. It 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 allowed private publishers and printers to produce postcards. The popularity of postal cards to send quick notes became even more popular when designs were as desirable as the message it accompanied.

Until 1901, the United States government prohibited private companies from calling their cards “postcards,” so they were known as “souvenir cards.” More bureaucracy prohibited writing messages on the address side of the postcard until 1908.

The postcards popularity soared as a result of the Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. Postcards featuring buildings were distributed at the fair. But until 1907, only the address could be written on the back of the postcard. Any messages had to be written on the front.

This is when the "divided back" card, with space for a message on the address side, came into use in the United States. This also began the Golden Age of American postcards. In 1908, more than 677 million postcards were mailed.

Their popularity lasted until about 1915, when, during WW I, fine German-printed cards were no longer being imported into America.

Collectors can age postcards by their style as well. The "white border" era, named for obvious reasons, lasted from about 1916 to 1930. The "linen card" era lasted from about 1931 to the early 1950s, when cards were primarily printed on papers with a textured surface similar to linen cloth.

The last and current postcard era, also began in the 1930s and is known as the "chrome" era. The images on these cards are generally based on colored photographs and identified by the glossy appearance given by the paper's coating.

Picture postcards became very popular by both senders and collectors, but they also raised some legal issues, that many identify as a precursor to the controversies we face today over Internet subject matter.

What might be considered humorous in one country might not be viewed in the same fashion by another country delivering the postcard. Some countries might refuse to handle postcards illustrating provocative beach scenes, for example, or images of full or partial nudity in images of classical statuary or paintings.

Postcards today

Postcards continue to be the most popular form of souvenir for travelers as well as economical means of communication, both personal and business related. You’ll also find in most souvenir shops that postcards are printed on other surfaces besides heavy paper including metal, leather and wood. Some cards are even individually hand-painted.

I’ll bet you never thought about what a wonderful gift you’re really buying and mailing to your family and friends while on your business trip or vacation. It’s really a treasure to be found in the mailbox; a mail moment surprise.

For more information on designs and history, check the website: www.emotionscards.com/museum/museum.html.