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.

This unvarnished card from the Cape Shore Paper Company shows (from the top down) a bluebird, female and male summer tanagers, and a meadowlark. The age is undetermined and, while it’s not that new, it’s not that old either.

One day, about three years ago, my boss and I were walking back from lunch when he noticed this card lying on the front steps of our building. There was nobody else around, so we had no way of knowing who might have dropped it, or why they were carrying it in the first place. Very odd.

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.