Besides communicating quick notes or vacation greetings, postcards also served as greeting cards for all occasions. These can be priceless for the genealogist. For example, Emily Rule, Tennessee, has been looking for clues in two scrapbooks full of early 19th century postcards that belonged to her great grandmother and great grandfather. To her amazement she has found out much she didn’t know about her family and her roots.

Emily is now using postcards to locate descendants of her great grandmothers who married and settled in Virginia before 1893. “From the postcards relatives sent her great grandparents we know where her family was before marriage and other little details about their life at that time,” she says.

Another favorite motif for postcards was transportation, which includes ship advertising, railroad stations and trains. You might be able to find a card of the ship that brought your ancestors to America. American Line, Anchor Line, Cunard, Hamburg-Amerika, Holland-America, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Red Star, White Star and many other smaller lines issued advertising cards that featured views of their ships accompanied by some size and tonnage facts. It is fun to trace the footsteps of your ancestors from different shores. Railroad depot postcards were very popular and still are today. It would be fantastic to find a real photo card of your ancestors standing in front of an old depot. All the different trains throughout our history and how they were used to transport in early America are quite collectible as well.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Post Card? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Town and city views, another popular postcard subject, show courthouses, schools, streets and post offices. They’re available for both US and European localities, and can be a way of connecting with your ancestors even if they didn’t send the postcards themselves. People have researched and found churches where ancestors have married, schools they attended and places they visited. These items are priceless!

It is amazing to see how many photo cards were developed from your own hometown even showing individual streets. You can buy them fairly cheaply too. Most are from shortly after the turn of the century, following the 1900 introduction of “Real Photo Cards”.

Similarly, roadside cards depicted diners and restaurants, gas stations, hotels and motels and shops. Perhaps your ancestors frequented a particular eatery or stayed at a certain hotel during their travels. The ideas of tracing your family is endless and can be a great way to share with your family your history. What a legacy to pass down to your children and grandchildren. These type items are interesting even to people outside the family. You will be quite surprised at the amount of information you can find and postcards on line concerning your family history. Small towns your ancestors have come from or cities far away are just a click away. Get started with a new pastime of postcard collecting from the past and engage in the history of your ancestors.

As your knowledge about Post Card continues to grow, you will begin to see how Post Card fits into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the world is important too.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

While the vast majority of all postcards made are not very valuable some are considered to be rare and desirable by collectors and these can be worth quite a bit of money.

For rare examples prices can go into the low thousands of dollars and it is certainly not all that uncommon to find a $50 postcard hiding in a pile of ordinary cards. Combing through 175 cards it would not be surprising to find one or two that are worth $5 to $10 or even more.

The classic postcard era was from 1898 to 1918 and the cards that fall in this time frame are the most collectible to collectors as a rule. It is usually the topic or the image or the artist who created the image that establishes its value. Serious postcard collectors are interested in a wide variety of subjects.

See how much you can learn about Post Card when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don’t miss out on the rest of this great information.

Holiday cards are very popular. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Easter and Valentine’s Day postcards are rather common, but cards sent for Halloween, Labor Day, and Ground Hog Day aren’t. Halloween cards are particularly popular right now and some of the most desired ones were created by artist Ellen Clapsaddle. Three of her mechanical Halloween cards with moving parts sold for a little less than $1,500. Artist-signed cards are another focus of strong collector interest. Pieces signed by Rose O’Neil (particularly her Kewpie cards), Philip Boileau, Arpad Basch (in the Art Nouveau style), Grace Drayton, Raphael Kirchner, Alphonse Mucha (look for his card advertising “Waverly Cycles”), Louis Wain (cats and paper dolls) and Florence Upton, to name just a few, are extremely popular.

We said earlier that Christmas cards were common but there are certain types of Christmas cards that are valuable. There are vast quantities featuring a white Santa Claus in a red suit but find a Santa in a different color of suit or come across a black Santa and you have something of a treasure. Find one in purple robes and the value might shoot up to around $200. One in blue robes trimmed in brown fur and the value can top $400. Postcard collectors look for what they call hold-to-light cards which have elements such as windows and fireplaces that seem to light up when the back of the card is held to a light. A New Year’s hold-to-light card might be worth between $75 and $100 while a regular New Year’s card might be worth very little.

Other cards to look for include the real photo cards of small towns or actual events. These can be rather expensive because there may have been only a few specimens of each view printed. Real photo cards that collectors find interesting can go up to the $5,000 dollars and such images as golfers playing a famous course can bring $350 or more.
To be valuable, postcards must be in good condition with no creases or folds. They should not have corners that are dog eared. Fronts that are not written on is the best (backs are ok) and no discoloration. Keep hunting for your treasured postcard and who’s to say yours won’t be worth a pretty penny.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

In 1894, British publishers were given permission by the Royal Mail to manufacture and distribute picture postcards which could be sent through the mail. Early postcards were pictures of famous landmarks, scenic views, photographs, lighthouses, animals or drawings of celebrities and so on. With steam locomotives providing fast and affordable travel the seaside became a popular tourist destination. The steam locomotives generated its own souvenir industry. The picture postcard was, and is, an essential staple of this industry.

In the early 1930′s cartoon style saucy postcards became widespread and at the peak of their popularity the sale of saucy postcards reached a massive 16 million a year. They were often tacky in nature making use of innuendo and traditionally featured stereotypical characters such as priests, large ladies and put-upon husbands in the same vein as the Carry On films. In the early 1950′s, the newly elected Conservative government were concerned at the apparent deterioration of morals in Britain and decided on a crackdown on these postcards. The main target on their hit list was the renowned postcard artist Donald McGill. In the more liberal 1960′s the saucy postcard was revived and became to be considered, by some, as an art form. This helped its popularity and once again they became an institution.

Most of this information comes straight from the Post Card pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

However, during the 1970′s and 1980′s, the quality of the artwork and humor started to deteriorate with changing attitudes towards the cards content. The demise of the saucy postcard occurred due to the moral climate and lack of consumer purchase. Original postcards are now highly sought after and rare examples can command very high prices at auction. The best known saucy seaside postcards were created by a publishing company called Bamforths, based in the town of Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England.

Despite the decline in popularity of postcards that are overtly saucy, postcards continue to be a significant economic and cultural aspect of British seaside tourism. Sold by newsagents and street vendors as well as by specialist souvenir shops. Modern seaside postcards often feature multiple depiction’s of the resort in unusually favorable weather conditions. These continuously draw tourist to the seaside. The use of saturated color and a general departure from realism have made the postcards of the later twentieth century become collected and desired by undiscriminating taste. Such cards are also respected as important documents of social history and have been influential on the work of Martin Parr.

There’s no doubt that the topic of Post Card can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about Post Card, you may find what you’re looking for in the next article.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Wooden postcards tend to fall within three eras: early, vintage (1930s to 1950s) and modern. Several different designs of wooden cards were issued for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Most of these cards consisted mainly of puns on various words associated with wood.

For example:
Exposition is more than oak-a, it is ash-tonishing, you cedar sights of your life…More fun than the beech. I wood spruce up and come. You walnut regret it. Butternut delay.

The Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905 and the Jamestown Exposition of 1907 also had wooden souvenir postcards. Some of the earliest cards that look like wood and are advertised as wooden probably are cardboard imitations of wood.
The hobby of woodburning or pyrography, was very popular during the same years as the golden age of postcard collecting. The burnt wood postcards are similar in design to leather postcards but the designs were hand burned by the postcard buyer. The wooden cards are also much harder to get than the leather cards.
Most of the burnt wood postcards were burned over printed designs. Some designs may have been copied or traced from patterns although possibly the artist’s design was reversed or altered by the manufacturer. Flemish Art was the largest and best-known pyrographic manufacturer.

leather cards

Leather postcards sometimes had a printed design. This was used to show buildings and other precision details. The brown ink used was difficult to tell from an actual burned design. Not being of card stock, the postcard was mailed at the 2¢ letter rate.

Letter Card

The Letter Card was a product used exclusively in Canada by the Folkard Company of Canada Limited, Montreal. It comprised a pre-printed letter sheet that when folded and glued closed could be mailed as a postcard. To open and read the message you would tear off a perforated and gummed margin.

You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about Post Card. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

Moonlight Effect

In the era when photographing by moonlight was a great technical achievement, postcard publishers came up with a means of faking such views. You had to be very meticulous trying to simulate accurate moonlight conditions. A day scene was selected with no people or shadows in sight. The view was then retouched by darkening the sky. Painting a disc in the sky represented the moon and brightly lighting the windows gave the impression of a night scene.

Multiple-Fold Panoramic

The multiple-fold panoramic postcard was a long horizontal format card usually with a panoramic view of a city that was folded for mailing.

Sunken Centre Photographs

Sunken centre real photograph postcards have a wide white border slightly raised by embossing so that the picture or pictures seem to be framed.

When word gets around about your command of Post Card facts, others who need to know about Post Card will start to actively seek you out.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Early 20th-century postcards manufactured for the Fourth of July were very popular. Thousands of colorful cards featured such themes as Uncle Sam, the Goddess of Liberty, eagles, cannons, flags, liberty bell, fireworks, Statue of Liberty, Native Americans, Revolutionary War figures, nautical subjects, and the nation’s founders. From the early 1900s the production of postcards neatly coincided with the Safe and Sane movement that was initiated in a number of major cities to get dangerous fireworks away from the public. Many cards demonstrated the seriousness of this issue but interestingly did so in a humorous vein. One popular card included the message: How to prevent your boy being killed on the Fourth of July-kill him on the third.

Cards, for the most part, were typically sold in sets of six. Illustrators such as Ellen Clapsaddle and E. Nash were household names to those who collected these cards. Ellen H. Clapsaddle (1865-1934) was active in New York and later in Germany in the early 20th century creating illustrations for thousands of postcards. Her focus was mostly children. She worked for the International Art Company and produced an imaginative series of Fourth of July cards.

Most of this information comes straight from the Post Card pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

“Greeting” cards often included verse that was similar to Fourth of July poetry published in newspapers at that time. The quality was mediocre at best. Examples include: “Day of flags and cannon and jubilee! Guarded well, gloried in, so may it ever be” and “Oh spirit of honor of freedom of peace! Guard well with a vigil that never shall cease.” The sense of guarding the nation’s freedom and the idea of stewardship was a common notion that all shared and continue to share today. Still the 4th of July Postcards were the favorite of their day and are quite collectible in our times. The brilliant colors and the obvious patriotism that was prevalent in our nation during these periods shined through.

Patriotism is the heartbeat of America and even though times get turbulent the Americana postcards of the past and present still hold dear to the hearts of Americans and reminders of past 4th of Julys where our nation celebrated her birth. Despite wars, social issues and political differences Americans celebrate the birth of their country with honor and respect for the nation they love and are proud to be a part of. The history alone of the 4th of July postcards and the careful thought taken to the words of the cards shows the reverence that we hold past present and future of our nation. The cards are great ways to remember past celebrations and to share present ones.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Besides communicating quick notes or vacation greetings, postcards also served as greeting cards for all occasions. These can be priceless for the genealogist. For example, Emily Rule, Tennessee, has been looking for clues in two scrapbooks full of early 19th century postcards that belonged to her great grandmother and great grandfather. To her amazement she has found out much she didn’t know about her family and her roots.

Emily is now using postcards to locate descendants of her great grandmothers who married and settled in Virginia before 1893. “From the postcards relatives sent her great grandparents we know where her family was before marriage and other little details about their life at that time,” she says.

Another favorite motif for postcards was transportation, which includes ship advertising, railroad stations and trains. You might be able to find a card of the ship that brought your ancestors to America. American Line, Anchor Line, Cunard, Hamburg-Amerika, Holland-America, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Red Star, White Star and many other smaller lines issued advertising cards that featured views of their ships accompanied by some size and tonnage facts. It is fun to trace the footsteps of your ancestors from different shores. Railroad depot postcards were very popular and still are today. It would be fantastic to find a real photo card of your ancestors standing in front of an old depot. All the different trains throughout our history and how they were used to transport in early America are quite collectible as well.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Post Card experts is time. If you’ll invest a little more time in reading, you’ll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Post Card.

Town and city views, another popular postcard subject, show courthouses, schools, streets and post offices. They’re available for both US and European localities, and can be a way of connecting with your ancestors even if they didn’t send the postcards themselves. People have researched and found churches where ancestors have married, schools they attended and places they visited. These items are priceless!

It is amazing to see how many photo cards were developed from your own hometown even showing individual streets. You can buy them fairly cheaply too. Most are from shortly after the turn of the century, following the 1900 introduction of “Real Photo Cards”.

Similarly, roadside cards depicted diners and restaurants, gas stations, hotels and motels and shops. Perhaps your ancestors frequented a particular eatery or stayed at a certain hotel during their travels. The ideas of tracing your family is endless and can be a great way to share with your family your history. What a legacy to pass down to your children and grandchildren. These type items are interesting even to people outside the family. You will be quite surprised at the amount of information you can find and postcards on line concerning your family history. Small towns your ancestors have come from or cities far away are just a click away. Get started with a new pastime of postcard collecting from the past and engage in the history of your ancestors.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

PHOTOCHROME ERA (1939 to present)

Photochromes (also known as Modern Chromes) first came into being in 1939. Their colors were particularly appealing to collectors. The famous movie, The Wizard of Oz, affirmed America’s love for color images. These “Chrome” postcards started to dominate the scene soon after they were launched by the Union Oil Company in their western service stations in 1939. They were easily produced, of high photo quality and most importantly, they were in color. Their spread was momentarily slowed down during WWII due to supply shortages, but they replaced both linen and black & white postcards by 1945 in the roadside postcard racks. Linen firms converted to photochrome postcards or went out of business. Black and white postcard firms merged with larger companies or disappeared completely.

REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS (1900 to present)

Real Photo Postcards were used as early as 1900. They can be particularly difficult to date unless they have a postmark or a date from the photographer. They must be carefully examined to ensure they are not reproductions which can be a problem.
There is much confusion on what “Real Photo” postcards are and how to identify them. Real Photo postcards are reproduced photographs developed onto photographic paper. With the size and weight of postcards with a postcard back. There are many postcards that reproduce photos by various printing methods that aren’t “real photos.” Instead are the same methods used to reproduce photos in magazines and newspapers. The best way to tell the difference is to look at the postcard with a magnifying glass. If the photo is printed you will see that it is made up of a lot of little dots, the same as a photo printed in a newspaper. A “real photo” postcard is solid, no dots.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

Helpful Hint: Most real photo postcards have identifying marks on the back usually in the stampbox corner, that identifies the manufacturer of the photographic paper. You can approximate the age of the Real Photo by knowing when the paper manufacturer was in business

ART DECO ERA (1910 to early ’30s)

Art Decos are known mainly for their vibrant colors. Art Deco is usually concerned with things of the past including pictures done by the ancient Greeks. Also copies with a twist of Middle Eastern subjects, variations on Egyptian artifacts, a natural extension of Art Nouveau and a whole variety of other influences not so directly related. They often depict pretty ladies in fancy clothes vogue style. Also of note are the sharp angles and straight lines. They have gained in popularity over the years and now have a very strong following.
The Art Deco period began around 1900 and ended around 1930. If in fact it ever did have an ending. At least however, this is the period during which the greatest volume of work was produced. What finally ended the movement? Most likely it suffered an untimely demise due to the financial crash of 1929 plus a worldwide depression. Then the second World War interrupted any recovery

That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

Post card collectors or more formally deltiologists, generally collect post cards for the view, subject depicted, topic, artist, publisher, photographer or any of hundreds of reasons relating to the front view of the post card. They are very much intrigued by the uniqueness and the view of a much simpler time in history.

The postal historian avidly seeks post cards for the stamp use, postmarks and postal markings, destinations and all the things related to the mailing or sending of the post card. Most of this information is generally found on the back of the card and the historian is unconcerned with the view or front of the card. This doesn’t interest him at all.
The philatelist collects the card for the stamp used on a post card and the way the stamp is canceled. This is closely related in some ways for to the reasons a postal historian would collect post cards and maybe even for the same reason.
It does get a little touchy when trying to separate the differences between the postal historian and the philatelist. Postal history and philately have crossed over blurred lines since stamp collecting began. Generally a philatelist is concerned how a stamp is used, condition of the stamp and the way it is canceled. A cancel is the method of obliterating the stamp to prevent reuse.

A postal historian collects for the way a stamp is used and postmarked. A postmark is the way to determine the place and date the post card was sent from although postmarks are often used as cancellations.
So a deltiologist, or post card collector, collects because of the front of the card and information relating to the image on the card and in many cases prefers a pristine mint card. The postal historian, or cover collector, collects post cards for reasons on the back of the card and prefers a postal used post card. The philatelist, or stamp collector, collects the post card for the stamp on a used card.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

A postal historian will sometimes use collateral material for exhibiting in their albums, displays or at competitive exhibitions. In addition, a real photo town view, especially of a “ghost” town, will be used as collateral along with a postmark from that town. This forms a pleasing combination for many postal historians. What is even better is when the town view is postmarked in the same town as in the view. This is an awesome find!

The deltiologist will also use a postmark as a crossover especially when their collecting cards from Worlds Fair and Expositions. The postmark from these special post offices can add great value to a post card and prove that it was purchased at the sight of the fair or exposition. These are also sought after items for the postal historian.
It makes no difference whether you collect post cards as a deltiologist, a postal historian or philatelist, the field is wide open. Collect what you like and how you like to collect! You can find them everywhere especially in old attics, garage sales and flea markets, antique shops and stamp shops, gas stations and hotels. Collecting Post Cards is a great hobby and one that can be passed on from generation to generation to share your past travels, interests and history with your family.

The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you’ll be glad you took the time to learn more about Post Card.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Although stock card designs are offered, the real advantage of using the Netpost Service is the ability to use your own photos and designs. The applications are limited only by your creativity. Anything that can be captured in a JPEG digital image can be put on a postcard.

Premium Postcards can be ordered for 84¢ each which includes postage and mailing. The Premium Postcards are 4.25 inches by 6 inches, are printed in full-color on thick cardstock and have a glossy scuff resistant coating. When ordering you simply upload or choose an image for the front of the card then write a message online for the back. The back of the card can also have an image in place of the text.

You can see that there’s practical value in learning more about Post Card. Can you think of ways to apply what’s been covered so far?

To get started go to the www.usps.com website and sign in. Look for a link for Netpost Services or sending cards. You may need to have an account before you can access all the instructions needed to create your cards. Since the instructions may change this will just give some basic information about what is required.

You will need a digital image in JPEG format and some sort of photo-editing software to conform to the image requirements. Your image should be sized to print at 5.50 inches by 3.75 inches with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (maximum 600 dpi). Actually this is the ideal….larger images will be resized proportionally and you can probably get by with any resolution over 200 dpi. You can include type in the image you upload or add it during the online creation process. The online feature for adding text to the image is very limited in choice of fonts and positioning, so it is best to add the text before you upload the image.

A really fun project in creating postcards is a project you can do with small kids. It is quite simple and they will have a blast doing it. All is needed is a photo, index card and some glue. Just glue you picture to the index card and let your child create his or her own message. Be creative with your postcards and not limit yourself to just the pictures. Have your child color a small picture for the grandparents or add some holiday glitter. Another idea is to use cloth to create your own postcards. Start stamping, painting, adding other fabrics, beads, yarn, hand or machine sewing. Whatever you think you need to create a wonderful postcard. The ideas are limitless in creating your own postcards so stretch your imagination and makes someone’s day special.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

This allowed the amateur photographer to produce their own photo postcards. You could take a photo of anything you wanted and send your photograph with a bit of correspondence on the back anywhere throughout the world. These views are often one of a kind. There were also many commercially produced cards by local or itinerant photographers that would take photographs of their regional areas and sell the cards wholesale to the local druggist or a store owner who then resold the cards to their clientele that visited their establishment. Usually these views were of Main Street or important buildings, such as the courthouse, bank, school, churches and even some of the prominent homes in an area. If a business owner did commission a photographer for some work he might end up sending the image to Germany where printed litho cards would then be produced. This was the case up until the first World War when the cards were then printed in the US Unused photo postcards can often be dated by the stamp box on the photo paper.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I’m sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

Some of the most interesting real photo cards are sometimes called the “boring” postcards. A boring postcard is one you’d respond to by saying, “Now why would anyone want a postcard of that?”

Remember staying in the Howard Johnson’s as a child and standing at the front desk looking at all the postcards? The boring postcards were pictures of the rooms with the orange bed spread and “pleather” white headboards. The view of the pool in Sparta Tn. Holiday Inn, road signs, concrete dams, highways under construction, elementary schools, picture of eggs and bacon from an obscure diner on some off the road place.

There is even a book out called “Boring Postcards. There is a German title, “Langweilige Postkarten” that is even more evocative. It’s a collection of meticulously grouped, carefully reproduced… boring postcards. Yet the parade of gas stations, diners, shopping malls, motorways, airports, and other extremely un-photogenic subjects often photographed without even one bit of ambition, when presented as a collection, is incredibly funny.

Hopefully the sections above have contributed to your understanding of Post Card. Share your new understanding about Post Card with others. They’ll thank you for it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO