Wild Postcards

I continue to be amazed at the vivid colors from Kay Anthony’s postcard collection. This is a “Genuine Curteich C.T. Art-Colortone”, number 2B-H1375, indicating manufacture in 1932. The resolution is also remarkable; you can make out a Coca-Cola sign on the building inside the letter E.

Kay’s home in Spartanburg was only 20 miles down what used to be the Georgia Highway (for my fellow Yankees, that means if you follow the highway long enough, you would reach Georgia) from Gaffney; it’s now the “Old Georgia Highway” and part of US Route 29. My friend James says she probably picked it up at the corner drug store, where it probably sat on a rack for years. It looks like she didn’t start collecting until the mid- to late-1940s.

 

I have finally gone through most of the 1,000+ postcards I acquired on September 17, and by far the most striking collection is that apparently belonging to Kay Anthony of Spartanburg, South Carolina. She collected (as far as I know, and judging from what I purchased) just under 200 postcards during the late 40’s and early 50’s.

She apparently corresponded with several people specifically for the purpose of trading postcards. How did one get in touch back then with others who wanted to trade postcards? Classified ads? Was there some sort of club for people with short attention spans who liked the pretty pictures on the cards? Sign me up!

One of her regular correspondents was a man named Lloyd Stoltz of Reading, Pennsylvania, who was a fastidious individual. His handwriting is incredibly tiny, perhaps intentionally so that he could get a lot of information onto a postcard. Also, he signed his cards with his own little ideogram, combining the letters “L” and “S”, and many of his cards have a small rubber stamp impression of his full initials, “L.P.M.S.”

There is a slight musty smell to the cards (which has been clearing now that they’ve been removed from their album), which leads me to believe that they have been stored away for decades. Not having seen the light of day, the colors on the cards are brilliant.

I plan to start posting some of her cards in a week or so; I hope you enjoy.

 

This is a large-letter linen postcard, another personal message from Daisy Boyd to Great-Grandma Lottie. It was posted from Spartanburg, South Carolina on May 24, 1953. Daisy writes (typos in the original): “Dear Mrs. Smith. Hope your both feeling fine. We feel some better Mr. Boyd just had to get away with his folks. Haveing nice time picnicks & fishing eaten big ones. Will see you all some time this summer. Mrs. H. Boyd.”

From these postcards from Daisy Boyd, it sounds as if Homer (Mr. Boyd) used to love to leave Pennsylvania on a moment’s notice and go see the old folks down in South Cackalacky.

 

Technically, this dolphin is probably having a blast just off Myrtle Beach. Purchased while away on a training boondoggle for work; I was actually closer to Raleigh than to Myrtle Beach. Published by APS.

 

This is card number S-66168, published by Dexter Press of West Nyack, NY. My friend James, who grew up in South Carolina about 15 miles from where this card was sent, says that it was just this way — except that these guys are having a hard time of it. Usually, James says, the plants were taller, and you didn’t have to bend so much to get the cotton.

This card was for Great-Grandma and postmarked September 27, 1962, which would have been not too long after she and Great-Grandpa left their home near Vanderbilt, PA to move in with my grandparents. Her friend Daisy Boyd writes from Greenwood, SC: “Dear Mrs. Smith & all, am here with Homer’s folks away down in South. Hope your (sic) well & all. Write me here. Sincerely, Daisy M. Boyd.” I wonder when people figured out that they didn’t have to turn the card 90 degrees to write their message.