Camp O-AT-KA is a summer camp for boys that exists still today.  It was founded in 1906 and has been on the same site in Sebago, Maine since 1907 .  This postcard might date from as early as 1910, based on the sturdiness of the card stock that was used (and the card is still like new), but I suspect that it’s probably from the early 1920s.

The camp was founded by the Reverend Ernest Joseph Dennen, an Episcopal minister from Lynn, Massachusetts.  He had developed a program which he called “The Order of Sir Galahad”, designed to teach the boys of his parish the virtues of “helpfulness, obedience, truth, chivalry, and service.”  The camp, in turn, was a reward for the boys who had worked hard to live up to these virtues.

Today, those virtues are apparently only for rich white boys.  Your boy can enroll in the camp’s two-week “starter program” for the low, low price of only $2,850.  If I were you, I’d go for the seven-week program: a real bargain at $7,700. Sure, running a big camp is expensive but, even adjusted for inflation, I went to camps of comparable size as a boy for about a tenth of the cost — and some of the values I learned were priceless.

This is almost certainly the oldest piece in my postcard collection, despite technically not being a postcard — it is a postal card, or “postal”, produced by the government. This particular card was written and postmarked October 27, 1880 — 128 years ago today. It is addressed to Charles J. Walker & Co. of Portland, Maine, and was sent from the Bridgton Boot & Shoe Co., Bridgton, Maine:

“Gents: Please send with yesterday’s order one Mens Rubber Coat medium size same as sample Mr. Whitney carries. Woonsocket or Goodyear Price 2.50 I think.” I guess they had a change of heart after Mr. Walker’s traveling salesman left. As I recall, I picked up this card in or near Bridgton in Cumberland County, Maine, in 1997.

This is a beautiful, large-letter linen postcard in pristine condition (other than some fading due to age). Large letter postcards usually begin with “Greetings from…” and have various scenes of the location in each letter of the place name. If you’ve ever seen the album art from Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., it’s another great example. (I have that album on vinyl.)

Large-letter postcards are often highly prized by collectors, and as such are generally priced fairly high.

This card was made by the Eastern Photo Litho Company of Lowell, Massachusetts, and published by “Switzer Card Service, Watertown 72, Mass.” The use of the postal zone number places manufacture after 1943, and I’d be surprised if this card were manufactured any later than 1945.