Early Postcards

I've scanned in a few of the early postcards that I have in my collection and added them to my Family Documents. You can see a brief slideshow of the postcards here.

As noted on the page, the postcards date from January 1905 to January 1913. Some are black and white illustrations or photos; many are in color. All but one were mailed, and they are identified by publisher (when noted), postmark date and place, as well as by title. Most of these come from the Scott girls to one another and to their grandmother, Rachel Aber Plaisted.

Many of the postcards are postmarked both from where they were mailed and "rec'd" at the post office to which they were mailed. I've only noted the "from" date and location, but can tell you that the recipient usually received the postcard the next day. Pretty fast!



One cent stamps were used on all the postcards. Three different stamps were used: two of Benjamin Franklin (one a profile and one straight-ahead) and one of the profile of George Washington. The Benjamin Franklin straight-ahead was issued by the USPS in 1903, and was used on my postcards from 1905 through 1908. The profile of Franklin was introduced in 1908, and the Washington profile in 1912. Only the last postcard I have uses the Washington stamp. All of these stamps are quite common, but could have been helpful in dating the postcards. (Information on stamps from the excellent website: 1847USA)

There are a few postcards from other locations (the earliest is from Pikes Peak, CO), but most come from upstate New York. Many are from where the Scott girls went to college, so several normal schools (training schools for teachers) are represented, including Keuka College, Geneseo Normal School and (NY) State Normal School at Oneonta. Syracuse University and the town also figure in several postcards. Greenwood, New York is where Rachel Aber Plaisted lived. Some seem to be vacation postcards.

The postcard seems to have been invented in Hungary in the 1870s. In the U.S., advertising cards were quite popular for collecting and trading throughout the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, and although not exactly "postcards" in the modern sense since they weren't mailed, did give a hint of what was to come. I have many of these in my collection as well, and will be scanning them into another album at some point in the future.

The first modern postcard, prestamped with a one-cent stamp, appeared in the U.S. in 1873 released by the US Postal Service. Not until 1898 were private firms allowed to create the postcards, and even then postcards were not allowed to have writing on the address side. This wasn't allowed until 1907, when a divided back was created. After this, the use of postcards exploded. Only two of my cards pre-date the divided back era. These cards were sent from Pike's Peak, Colorado in 1905 and Keuka College in NY (probably 1905-6).

Germany is where many of my cards were printed, and apparently was the site of most postcard printing in the world. At the time, Germany had they finest printing techniques for working with colors. With the onset of World War I, therefore, postcards became more difficult to obtain in the U.S. until American companies began building their own printing technologies.

(Most of the postcard history derives from here.)