Ramona was an 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson which described the travails endured by our young half-Scottish half-Native American heroine, mostly due to racial discrimination. It was immensely popular, and many places in San Diego jumped on the popularity bandwagon, claiming to be the places portrayed in the novel. The Camulos Ranch, pictured above, had a valid claim; the author is known to have visited there during her research, and describes particular furnishings and other items at Camulos in great detail, despite having stayed there only a few hours.

This card is one among a group of six cards purchased at Ramona’s Marriage Place, another attraction, that I found in a shop as part of a lot of several California cards. Each of them has a “From Ramona’s Marriage Place” rubber stamp on the back, and were probably purchased at the same time by the same tourist.

None of the cards appears to be any newer than around 1915 at the very latest. This particular card is a very early Curt Teich “C. T. Photochrom” postcard, number A-33852, published in 1913.

Ramona was an 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson which described the travails endured by our young half-Scottish half-Native American heroine, mostly due to racial discrimination. It was immensely popular, and many places in San Diego jumped on the popularity bandwagon, claiming to be the places portrayed in the novel. The Camulos Ranch, pictured above, had a valid claim; the author is known to have visited there during her research, and describes particular furnishings and other items at Camulos in great detail, despite having stayed there only a few hours.

This card is one among a group of six cards purchased at Ramona’s Marriage Place, another attraction, that I found in a shop as part of a lot of several California cards. Each of them has a “From Ramona’s Marriage Place” rubber stamp on the back, and were probably purchased at the same time by the same tourist.

None of the cards appears to be any newer than around 1915 at the very latest. This particular card was published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco.

This card ostensibly depicts the very first stagecoach in California but, given that it was located at a well-known tourist trap, I am hard-pressed to believe it.

This card is one among a group of six Ramona-based cards that I found in a shop as part of a lot of several California cards. Each of them has a “From Ramona’s Marriage Place” rubber stamp on the back, and were probably purchased at the location itself, at the same time by the same tourist.

None of the cards appears to be any newer than around 1915 at the very latest. This particular card was published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco.

She’s not bad; she’s just drawn that way. Lloyd Stoltz sent this card off to Kay Anthony on June 6, 1950 (the day before he sent her this card) with the message “See I’m asking you — ha ha. Hesitatingly, LS”.

Was Lloyd trying to cultivate a long-distance romance? What was the question from Kay to which he’s obviously replying? I don’t know where the cards that Kay sent to Lloyd are, but I hope they still exist somewhere.

This card bears a copyright notice of 1914 on the front, but wasn’t postally used until June 7, 1950, when Lloyd Stoltz mailed it to Kay Anthony. Note his initials rubber stamped in the upper left corner (below). Published by Johnson’s Post Card Works of Waupun, Wisconsin.

If you think this is cute, wait until tomorrow, when you can see the card that Lloyd sent to Kay the day before.

This card is one among a group of six Ramona-based cards that I found in a shop as part of a lot of several California cards. Each of them has a “From Ramona’s Marriage Place” rubber stamp on the back, and were probably purchased at the location itself, at the same time by the same tourist.

None of the cards appears to be any newer than around 1915 at the very latest. This particular card was published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco.

This is a Union Pacific Railroad Pictorial Post Card — basically a commercial that you get to pay for. “A summer vacation outing on one of these Western guest ranches provides zestful recreation and healthful activities that can scarcely be duplicated elsewhere.” Well, with the possible exception of nudist colonies. Oh, forgive me, I didn’t mean to interrupt the commercial message: “Union Pacific Railroad serves the Dude Ranch country.” Ah, there it is.

Despite the lack of mention on the card, this is an obvious Curt Teich card, number 6B-H1205, with the number indicating manufacture in 1946. I know that Teich manufactured cards on spec for hundreds of organizations, but I can’t recall any other card that doesn’t have his publication data on it. I am amazed at how much of the original color remains. Our friend Lloyd Stoltz posted it to fellow collector Kay Anthony on March 12, 1952, from his home in Reading, PA.

Lloyd begins with “Greetings, Kay,” then immediately follows it with “D” in quotation marks; two small X’s, one on top of the other; then a long dash (for you computer geeks, I mean an em dash as opposed to an en dash or hyphen). Could Lloyd have invented the emoticon? He continues: “Could use one of these horses to catch up. Please note the change of address, just to keep in touch with you. Having an awful tough time trying to get straightened out or back to normal, if such a thing is possible? Here’s hoping you are doing fine. Joyful Wishes Pal,” and then he signs it with his own “LS” ideogram.

Ramona was an 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson which described the travails endured by our young half-Scottish half-Native American heroine, mostly due to racial discrimination. It was immensely popular, not just for the storyline itself (sort of a Native American Uncle Tom’s Cabin), but for the romantic descriptions of 19th-century California, and the Spanish land aristocracy. It remained popular for decades thereafter, in part thanks to a 1910 D.W. Griffith film starring Mary Pickford, a 1928 version starring Delores del Rio, and a 1936 version starring Loretta Young and Don Ameche.

Consequently, many places in San Diego jumped on the bandwagon, claiming to be the places portrayed in the novel. Many of them had valid claims, as it was known that the author visited these places during her research. They were assisted by the fact that train travel to Southern California had recently become relatively easy and inexpensive, creating a tourist boom.

Ramona’s Marriage Place, previously (and once again) known as the Estudillo House, was unique in that there was no documented visit by the author, and that the location of Ramona’s marriage in the novel is not well described. Nevertheless, they marketed themselves as such and enjoyed a great deal of popularity.

This card is one among a group of six Ramona-based cards that I found in a shop as part of a lot of several California cards. Each of them has the “From Ramona’s Marriage Place” rubber stamp on the back, and were probably purchased at the Estudillo House, at the same time by the same tourist. None of the cards appears to be any newer than around 1915 at the very latest. This particular card was published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco.

Ramona and its tourist consequences can probably be credited with keeping much of Old Town San Diego out from under the wrecking ball over the years, and can also be credited with (or blamed for, depending on your point of view) popularizing Mission Revival-style architecture.

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.