Wild Postcards

This is one of two postcards that arrived yesterday from Kris, featuring “World Famous Skinny Dick’s: Spirits, food and Skinny’s Souvenir Shop” in Ester, Alaska. While I might stop by for a drink sometime, I don’t know if I’d want to eat here.

Lest you think that Kris is a sexist cad, you should know that Skinny Dick’s is owned by two women. Also, the other postcard he sent me the same day is much more genteel.

This is one of two postcards that arrived yesterday from Kris, featuring “World Famous Skinny Dick’s: Spirits, food and Skinny’s Souvenir Shop” in Ester, Alaska. While I might stop by for a drink sometime, I don’t know if I’d want to eat here. Lest you think that Kris is a sexist cad, you should know [...]

The colorist for this Curt Teich card (number 7A-H115, published in 1937 for the C. F. Johnston Company of Seattle) apparently felt that the town of Wrangell deserved to be portrayed as vividly as possible.  And from what I can tell, the Wrangell of today, though a bit larger, is just as vivid.  Wrangell is steeped in Tlinget culture, and is home to incredible nature observatories where one can watch the salmon-fishing bears from behind a photo blind.  They are also home to large concentrations of bald eagles during the spring and fall.

Wrangell’s main industry seems to be tourism; they boast no less than a dozen bed and breakfast inns.  Interestingly, the town is not accessible by road; one must travel by sea or air to get there.

This postcard is a gift from Donna, who claims that her postcards multiply overnight and is therefore trying to downsize.  Many thanks!

The colorist for this Curt Teich card (number 7A-H115, published in 1937 for the C. F. Johnston Company of Seattle) apparently felt that the town of Wrangell deserved to be portrayed as vividly as possible.  And from what I can tell, the Wrangell of today, though a bit larger, is just as vivid.  Wrangell is [...]

Two days ago, I posted some cards featuring the Jefferson Memorial, and a new Jefferson Memorial postcard arrived in the mail later that day.

Yesterday, I posted an advertising card for women’s clothing from the former Eastern Bloc, and a new advertising postcard for women’s clothing arrived from the former Eastern Bloc later that day.

Today I am posting this card from Kris.

I am too terrified to walk out to the mailbox.

Two days ago, I posted some cards featuring the Jefferson Memorial, and a new Jefferson Memorial postcard arrived in the mail later that day. Yesterday, I posted an advertising card for women’s clothing from the former Eastern Bloc, and a new advertising postcard for women’s clothing arrived from the former Eastern Bloc later that day. [...]

Every time I mention to someone how few cards from Alaska I have, more appear in my mailbox.  This postcard (along with another Alaska card, as well as a New Jersey card) comes to me from Donna, an Alaska native whom I met on Postcrossing.  She was happy to volunteer them.  “I have way too many cards,” writes Donna, “and I am trying to downsize.”  Isn’t that what descendants are for?  It’s all I can do to keep the grandkids from raiding my collection; they can wait for it, just as I did.

A tomcod, which I had never heard of, resembles a cod and is related to the cod, but isn’t a cod.  There’s an Atlantic species and a Pacific species, and the name supposedly comes from an American Indian language, from a word meaning “plenty fish.”  Well, they do look plentiful.  I love the posture of the guy in the background.  You can just tell he hasn’t gotten a nibble all day.

This card was published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco, probably around 1910-1915.

Every time I mention to someone how few cards from Alaska I have, more appear in my mailbox.  This postcard (along with another Alaska card, as well as a New Jersey card) comes to me from Donna, an Alaska native whom I met on Postcrossing.  She was happy to volunteer them.  “I have way too [...]