As the twenty-first century approaches, e-mail and fax transmissions have changed the face of long distance communication, much the same way postcards changed the face of communication at the dawn of the twentieth century. In both instances, speed was a primary consideration. Today, the lightning speeds available in high-powered computers and Internet connections have created expectations of instant communication between people at any distance. In contrast, a century ago two major changes in the U.S. postal system allowed people the freedom to send quick messages to friends and retailers using the new penny postcard.
Postal cards, those with postage printed by the government, had been in circulation since 1872. Called "pioneers," these first cards often had one side printed with commercial messages or holiday greetings, but their use was restricted. By regulation, only the destination address could appear on the side of the card with the postage, which meant any personal message had to be written, sometimes creatively, on the side with the illustration.
It wasn’t until 1898 that Congress passed legislation allowing the private printing of "post cards"—the name chosen to distinguish them from postal cards. These new post cards did not have imprinted postage and contained the phrase "Private Mailing Card—Authorized by the Act of Congress, May 19, 1898."1The same year, the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) system was established, which allowed people in rural areas to send and receive mail without having to travel great distances. Prior to RFD, free delivery was only provided to homes in towns with more than ten thousand residents. Even with these changes, messages still had to be printed on the illustrated side of the postcard until 1907, when the postcard back was divided. With the division, the message could be written on one half of the back and the address on the other half, as postcards are printed today.
The combination of these two postal changes created a communication boom that did not slow until the advent of World War I. C. W. Hill describes in his book, Picture Postcards, the convenience of the postcard during a time of multiple daily mail deliveries:
As a young married woman in the 1890s, the author's grandmother would see her husband off to his town office each morning, glance at the daily newspapers, and then take her dog for a short walk. Into the pillar box at the end of the road she would drop a postcard to her butcher, telling him the cuts of meat she needed for dinner that evening. Within an hour or so the postman would empty the pillar box and the postcard would be sorted and delivered by the midday post. Early in the afternoon the butcher's boy would bring the meat, in good time for the cook to prepare it for the evening meal.2
Instead of sitting down and writing lengthy letters describing journeys or family news, postcards provided an inexpensive way to send a quick message or holiday greeting. Postage cost a penny, and the price of most postcards was only one cent.
Postcard manufacturers had a difficult time keeping up with the demand for postcards of all types: scenic views, holiday cards, real photographs, comics, and art nouveau. People bought and collected cards from vendors on street corners, souvenir shops, and postcard stores. Victorian parlors usually had postcard albums on display. The cards were mailed in the billions during this time, which created a passion unparalleled by anything in history.3 Because of the large quantities of postcards produced and mailed, many of today's family historians may be the beneficiaries of bits and pieces of obscure family facts—if they saved them.
At the age of seven, my mother handed me a stack of old family postcards and encouraged me to start collecting them. Since that time I have collected postcards; some were sent through the mail or given to me from other people's collections. I have bought them at various exotic destinations, and have found several while rummaging through antique stores.
In my early genealogy days I was eager to research, but I lived in Texas—hundreds of miles away from important family documents. However, I had my postcard collection with me, which numbered in the thousands at that point. One afternoon I decided to renew my acquaintance with my collection, hoping to find tidbits of family information. While sorting through the cards from my mother, I noticed that one card felt particularly thick. Upon further examination, I discovered it was actually two cards stuck together. When I carefully pulled them apart, an old, folded document fell out—the original 1848, handwritten marriage certificate, with seal, of my second great-grandparents! When I recovered from the elation of this incredible find, I shuddered as I recalled how often those postcards had been played with in my childhood, and how they had been carelessly moved from location to location during numerous transfers in the early years of my Marine Corps career.
Today, my collection is far more valuable to me. I have taken the time and made the effort to properly store them in archival top-loading protectors in archival ring binders. The cards are separated by state and/or country, and the greeting cards are sorted by holiday.
I have learned to look at the postcards as an alternate source of photographs to illuminate the lives of my ancestors. Many of the early postcards captured scenes of the main streets in small towns across the United States and other parts of the world. I have a twenty-one-inch wide panoramic postcard of a street scene in Mattoon, Illinois. Based on the clothing and horse-drawn carriages visible, the photo likely dates from 1900 to 1905. The view captures the establishments on Broadway Avenue, looking east and west from the Illinois Central railroad tracks. Aside from the fact that the postcard is a rare view of a turn-of-the-century town, it is the street on which my second great-grandparents, James Levi Scott and Catherine J. Runyon, lived and sold groceries at the time. While I have photos of James and Catherine, I don’t have photos of their home or surroundings—but I have this postcard and several later "real photo" postcards of the same town. With a little creativity, the picture postcards can easily be worked into any narrative written on these ancestors.
Because postcards were so popular and numerous in Victorian, and later Edwardian, America, it is possible for family historians to find similar views of places and subjects that pertain to their ancestors. If you weren’t fortunate enough to inherit a family collection, start with the historical society near where your ancestor lived. The Plymouth (Michigan) Historical Society Museum has a good collection of postcards that pertain specifically to Plymouth and surrounding areas. The Chicago Historical Society has a similar collection centered on Chicago. If you are unsuccessful locally, try one of the largest, most comprehensive collections of postcards printed by the Curr Teich Company of Chicago, which is housed at the Lake County (Illinois) Museum. This collection is described in Edwina Case Skyles’ article "Posts From the Past."4
Another practical use for family postcards is to pinpoint someone’s address at a certain point in time, or to document the travels of ancestors and their kin. Because of the nature of postcards, there won’t be a lot of detail, but it might be enough information to answer a nagging question mark in your research.
While family historians might be most inclined to turn to picture postcards for clues, don’t overlook holiday greeting cards as a source for information. They may contain a postmark and an address, but they may also contain relationship details. Christmas cards sent to "Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary" may help you figure out how the mysterious Joe and Mary Smith relate to your family.
A birthday greeting may contain an age for "Little John" that could help determine his actual birth year. During the height of the postcard craze, holiday greetings were sent for any celebration, from Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter, to Groundhog’s Day and Labor Day.
With a little bit of luck and perseverance, postcards can bring a new dimension to your family history project. And while postcards were used as time savers by our predecessors, spending some time with their legacy may be the boost you need to rejuvenate a brick-wall problem. And when firing off your next e-mail, remember that the data contained within your message is only permanent if it is printed and saved. Unlike events of a century ago, our descendants may miss out on a valuable legacy because of our "need for speed" in communication.
Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS, is a frequent contributor to Ancestry Magazine and is the editor of Genealogical Computing.
Endnotes
1 Susan Brown Nicholson, The Encyclopedia of Antique Postcards (Radnor, Penn.: Wallace-Homestead Book Company, 1994), 3.
2 C. W. Hill, Picture Postcards (Aylesbury, England: Shire Publications Ltd., 1987), 3.
3 Jack H. Smith, Postcard Companion: The Collector’s Reference (Radnor, Penn.: Wallace-Homestead Book Co., 1989), 9.
4 Edwina Case Skyles, "Posts From the Past," Ancestry(January/February 1996): 24–25.
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