“Mysterious Postcard Collector” sent this very nice photo through the mail, as a postcard, of an original photo of the Loveland Ski Area — along with a request to send him or her a million postcards. Well, not all from me; this individual has somehow gotten the idea into his (let’s stick with the generic pronoun, shall we?) head of amassing one million postcards. Naturally, I obliged. It’s a challenge for me to store my own collection (somewhere between one and two thousand, I think) and, necessity being a mother, I am hoping that he’ll come up with some good ideas for the rest of us.

Since the goal seems to be quantity, not quality, I say let’s oblige him. If you’ve got an old advertising postcard, unwanted card, or just plain ugly card, why not pop it in the mail?

Along with yesterday’s view of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Walt was kind enough to send along this real photo postcard of Okmulgee Tech, now known as the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

The “DOPS” stampbox on this postcard was used from 1925 to 1942; I would guess that this postcard was produced closer to the end of that window.

Much of the US and the world has already gone back to school; those who haven’t will probably start by next Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. This young lad is no doubt posing for his back-to-school portrait. After all, he wouldn’t wear white after Labor Day, would he?

Based on the Artura photo paper stampbox on this postcard, I can definitively say that this postcard was produced between 1908 and 1924, so I split the difference and decided it was around 1915. This photo was taken at Ferguson’s Studio of Elkins, West Virginia.

Sadly, I am not able to find any historical references to the studio, save one: in 2003, an auction house (I won’t say which one) had a collection of 14 real photo postcards of the same (unknown) family, taken at Ferguson’s. They expected to fetch $300 for the lot. Ridiculous. I picked up this card as part of a lot of unrelated RPPCs, and the cost per card was far less than a dollar.

Be sure to check out the other little boys and girls celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday!

For Postcard Friendship Friday, here’s a postcard mailed to a Friend.  Postmarked Santa Monica, California, 13 December 1938, this real photo postcard was dispatched to Mr. Friend P. Williams of Albany, New York.

Let’s talk about our friend Friend; I was able to learn a great deal about him from a variety of sources.  Originally from Olean, New York, Friend graduated from Cornell University in 1899 with a degree in civil engineering.  He spent most (if not all) of his career working as an engineer for the State of New York.

In 1906, he became engaged to a Miss Alma Horton, the daughter of Mr. F. M. Horton of 97 Gates Avenue in Brooklyn.  (I can’t help but wonder how they met; I can’t find any evidence that he spent any significant amount of time anywhere near NYC.)

He worked on the “Barge Canal” Project, which was a series of major improvements to New York’s canal system, which began around 1903 and lasted for decades.  By 1914, he was the division engineer for the project’s Western Division and, from 1919-1921, he served as a Special Deputy State Engineer, still with the project.

Ultimately, his career progressed until, by 1935, he was the Engineer-Secretary of New York’s Division of Water Power and Control.  When he received this card in 1938, I imagine he would have been about 62 years old and close to retirement.  His work certainly explains his residence in Albany, the state capital.

So friend Friend is no mystery.  The message, however, has resisted analysis:

Our writer uses a postcard featuring one of Oregon’s natural wonders to extol the virtues of California. “Californians are very proud of their state (justly so) and have shown us every square inch, or so it seems. We have been from San Diego to Portland, Oregon, and Dororty has done her duty, lecturing and signing books. We love California, but cold old Albany will look pretty good to us. We shall have a lot to tell you!  Just today we visited the Kellogg Arabian Horse Farm, and you know how much I enjoyed that. There were some beautiful horses there — pure white stallions. Our love to you and the girls. T. H.(?) Santiago.”

You would think that a woman with a name like Dororty and who is obviously an author and lecturer would be easy to find; I found a few, but none of them seemed to fit in with this message. Nor was I able to find Mr. Santiago.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

For Postcard Friendship Friday, a postcard that should have gone to the mailbox of a friend or suitor, instead of to this collector.

This was certainly a surprise in my mailbox: a real photo postcard (RPPC) received through Postcrossing from Richard, who took great care in sending it to ensure that it arrived safely.  Although he did not enclose a note, I am very appreciative of his efforts.

The stampbox indicates that this card was manufactured in Germany, probably around 1912.  It’s very well produced and well-preserved; it’s a card that I might have chosen for myself.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

For this week’s sortie into Postcard Friendship Friday, let us consider this photograph of friends.  Two of them are clearly soldiers, and the notation “1918″ puts them at the end of World War I.  But whence?

I puzzled over the origin of this card for quite a while.  First there was some ambiguity as to the handwriting on the back — the only clue whatsoever on this real photo postcard.  Tig lieu, perhaps?  Researching several permutations finally yielded success after I decided that the word was “Jiglau”.

It turns out that “Jiglau” is a variation on the spelling of Iglau, which is the German name for Jihlava, a city in the Vysočina Region of what is now the Czech Republic.  Its predecessor, Czechoslovakia or the Czechoslovak Republic, was created on October 28, 1918.  Previously, it had been part of Austria-Hungary.

Let us assume that two of these young men are newly minted Czech soldiers, and that the three of them are posing to celebrate the end of hostilities and the birth of a nation.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

Here is a terrific example of the photography of Byron Harmon, a nature photographer who worked out of Banff, Alberta in the early part of the 20th century. If we assume that the photo was taken late in the day, then the shadows indicate that these Three Wise Goats are heading towards the East, possibly in search of a Star.

Toni McLaughlin has a copy of this card as well (look for #807) and there are some interesting differences. For starters, the color is different, which could either indicate that my card has faded more over the years, or that the developing process or chemicals were not identical. Additionally, there are some marks on my card that are not present on hers. Since the marks are on the photo but not on the border, that implies to me that the photographic plate may have been marred in some way between the time each of these photo postcards was developed.

I wish I were able to discern some text on the pillars or sign shown in this RPPC. I tried scanning this card at resolutions of 2400 dots per inch and up but, unfortunately, the resolution of the photograph itself isn’t nearly that high. Where does this gate lead? A park? A private estate? A cemetery, perhaps?

The stampbox on this card indicates that it was manufactured between 1905 and 1908; the fact that the card has an undivided back (meaning that the back is for the address only, and that any message was to have been written on the front) further implies that it was made before March of 1907, when divided-back cards became legal.

This real photo postcard is printed on AZO paper and, judging from the stampbox, was produced sometime between 1904 and 1918. It was purchased in the same lot as this real photo postcard of a barn and I would not be surprised if it came from the same family.

While this looks like a photochrome postcard, it is in fact an actual photograph printed on photographic paper. It is definitely an oddity. The drawing is artist signed by Ken Holmes of Pecos, Texas; Ken marked the drawing as ©1941. The other inscription, that of Howard Studio, also of Pecos, may be Ken’s artist studio or the studio at which the drawing was photographed.

The stampbox, pictured at right (and which has undergone some enhancement, as the ink on the back is very faint) shows the letters “EKC”, meaning it was manufactured under a process by the Eastman Kodak Company. Ron Playle says that this stampbox was used on cards made from 1930-1950, which confirms that the card was manufactured contemporary with the drawing.

This card is from Kay Anthony’s collection. She had at least one correspondent in Texas, who may have mailed it to her inside of an envelope. The card is stiffer than the typical photo of today, but still has a very faint crease — which may also indicate that it was manhandled in the mail.

I love Captain Cool, center, and his squad of traffic goons in this RPPC from 1949. The back of the card doesn’t have any identifiable markings from the manufacturer, but someone was kind enough to make notes for me:

Unfortunately, the only German that I can translate from this is “Harley-Davidson”.

Lest you think that these aren’t enough cops to manage all of the traffic violators in Vienna, not to worry; their numbers would more than double by 1950:

This card has a little more detail on the back but, unfortunately, my limited ability to read German is further hindered by the antiquated handwriting:

All that I can really make out from this is that it is addressed to “my sweetheart” (I think) and that it is dated Vienna, 12 November 1950. If you can clarify this for me, I would appreciate it.

This real photo postcard (RPPC) is indeed an actual photograph, with postcard markings stamped on the back. The stampbox indicates that the paper was made by a company called AZO and, based on the stampbox’s particular design, the date of manufacture can be narrowed down to sometime between 1904 and 1918. Unfortunately, it is hard to narrow it down any further with any degree of certainty.

The detail at right of the three people in the photograph is exactly a one inch square. After putting this detail through several filters and enhancements, I am reasonably sure that the folks pictured are African-Americans. Click on the image for yourself to see a larger version.

Byron Harmon left Tacoma, Washington in 1903 to photograph mountains and, realizing that there were no photography studios in the Canadian Rockies, settled in Banff, Alberta. The surviving collection of photos numbers over 6,000.

On this card, barely visible near the bottom center, is the legend “Lake Louise. 118.”, scratched into the negative by the photographer. An identical real photo postcard with a more visible legend can be seen in Toni McLaughlin’s collection of Harmon RPPCs (look for #118). Toni also has images of a dozen white border postcards of Harmon’s published in the early 1920′s, the first of which is Lake Louise taken from an ever so slightly different angle.

The back of the card reads “Along the Line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Photographed and Copyrighted by Byron Harmon, Banff, Canada.”