For Postcard Friendship Friday — and the Friday before we celebrate our Independence Day — I would like to present these reminders that American men have not been the only guardians of our freedom.  The United States Postal Service apparently felt that the theme of women who protect and defend us is worth repeating as well.

The postcard pictured is a Postal Service-issued postcard that reproduces the “Women in Military Service” 32-cent stamp, issued on 18 October 1997, which was also the date of the dedication of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the gates of Arlington National Cemetery.  A 3-cent stamp with a very similar theme (but which unfortunately omitted the Coast Guard) was issued on 11 September 1952.  The Department of Defense used the latter stamp to impress upon women the option of a military career.

Although the Postal Service has issued other stamps honoring individual women who served or contributed — pioneers in aviation, medicine, and other fields — I think that these stamps say it best.

My favorite woman in uniform (excluding those with whom I served) is without a doubt Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992), a pioneer in computing.  Among other achievements, she brought forth the idea that we could program computers using words and syntax that resembled human languages, instead of having to use the ones and zeroes of the machine.  (She’s also credited with the saying that “It’s easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission” which, in my opinion, is how most progress is made.)

Be sure to stop by the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

What did we ever do without Photoshop?  This postcard from the Netherlands features photographic art — an homage to Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus — by Peter Gramberg, but is actually an advertising postcard for the weekly magazine HP / De Tijd.  Unlike many postcard collectors, I don’t generally mind advertising postcards (especially with themes like this one).  After all, the ad cards of today are the vintage ad cards of tomorrow.  Hey, in fifty years you might get ten bucks for this on eBay!

Here is the part where I was going to write about what was the De Tijd (“Time”) Catholic daily newspaper, how their readership declined following the end of pillarization in the Netherlands, how they merged with another pillarized publication and became a weekly magazine — but it’s late and I’m tired.  You will have to illuminate yourself today.

Here’s a little chuckle for your Friday.  This is an arcade card, which was a prize that one might win at a carnival or down the shore after beating some mechanical test of strength or skill.  The card is made from heavy stock, and the back of the card is blank.

Kudos to the caddie for his honesty — but she’ll never get her stance right if she insists on teeing off in heels.

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

The fish seem wide-eyed and surprised at this young lady’s sudden appearance. “An underwater scene in the crystal depths of world-famous Silver Springs. Here the water is so clear that one can see easily to the bottom bowl and underwater pictures can be made successfully. More than 43 varieties of fish, turtles and shell fish may be seen through glass-bottom boats in this underwater fairyland of nature.”

This is a Colourpicture Publication, distributed by the Asheville Post Card Company. It was apparently manufactured shortly after the very first postcard postage rate increase (with the words “one cent” unceremoniously removed from the stampbox); that was on 1 January 1952.

Update: Thanks to Postcardy for reminding me that this month’s Postcard Scavenger Hunt is fish!  Check out other fish postcards posted by her and by others — sometimes touristy, sometimes funny, always interesting.

Kelly sent me this beautiful postcard of a photo by Norman Parkinson (1913-1990), a fashion and portrait photographer.  He opened his portrait studio in 1934 in London and was fortunate enough (and talented enough) to have clients such as Noel Coward and Vivien Leigh; his work was noticed.  He produced editorial photos for Harper’s Bazaar in the 1940′s, and did much fashion photography for the pages of Vogue throughout the 1950′s, then switched back to portraiture almost exclusively, capturing images of the rich and famous.

Even this fashion photo is more like a portrait. When I look at this photo, I see not the dress, but the model’s expression; I see the person.  This is not something you see in a catalog.  This is art.  Being an amateur portrait photographer myself, I’d give what’s left of my eyeteeth to be this good.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

For Postcard Friendship Friday, a postcard that should have gone to the mailbox of a friend or suitor, instead of to this collector.

This was certainly a surprise in my mailbox: a real photo postcard (RPPC) received through Postcrossing from Richard, who took great care in sending it to ensure that it arrived safely.  Although he did not enclose a note, I am very appreciative of his efforts.

The stampbox indicates that this card was manufactured in Germany, probably around 1912.  It’s very well produced and well-preserved; it’s a card that I might have chosen for myself.

Be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.

According to the back of this Postcrossing card from Taru, “the bath whisk of birch twigs must be soft and warm.”  See, honey?  This postcard is educational!  Actually, the missus had a few comments on this young lady’s physique, but she has nothing to worry about.

The description is also published in Finnish — “Saunavihdan haudutus” — which, as I recall, is the spell that Harry and Ron tried to use in Book 5 to lure Hermione into the steam room at Hogwarts.

This vintage image of two girls in traditional Zeeland dress, inexplicably on motorcycles, is a modern reproduction by Art Unlimited and arrived today from Jet, taking only eight days from the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands.

The province of Zeeland is a collection of islands that were apparently difficult to reach until the early 20th century; I’m sure the photographer found humorous this juxtaposition of old and (what was then) new.

This is an advertising postcard for Polzela Nogavice (Slovenian for “socks”, according to Google) of Polzela, Slovenia, sent to me a couple of months ago by Žiga, whom I met in the Postcrossing forums.  Judging from this card and from their website, socks and stockings seem to be synonymous; perhaps the better translation for nogavice is “hosiery”.  If you need some, it looks like Polzela can accommodate you, even if you have legs up to here.

The stamps apparently show an extremely rare species of chickweed.  I’m thinking of exporting some of the more common chickweeds to Slovenia from my front lawn.

This is not a postcard, but rather an arcade card, which were sold in vending machines at places like fairgrounds and carnivals.  Often they were the prize in some mechanized test of strength or skill.  The cards are about as heavy as pasteboard, and are blank on the back.

Arcade cards from later eras featured everything from pin-up girls to movie stars to stills from TV episodes.  Earlier cards from the 1920s and 1930s, however, generally featured comic (and usually slightly risque) sayings and drawings.

This week’s foray into Postcard Friendship Friday brings us to this gift from my postcard friend Eddy, who runs the excellent blog D’hier à aujourd’hui (From Yesterday to Today), which compares postcard images of the France of yesteryear with modern views of the same sites. This card, along with another turn-of-the-century French card, arrived a few days ago, but you get to see only this one today; I will save the other for Bastille Day.

This postcard, postmarked 24 August 1905, shows the top of the Fontaine Carpeaux in Paris’s 6th District.  The four maidens, created by sculptor Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, represent the “four parts of the world”: an African; an American Indian; an Asian; and a Caucasian.  They are posed as if they are turning the celestial sphere, complete with the signs of the zodiac, around the Earth.  Interestingly, the sphere was not created by Carpeaux, but by another sculptor, Pierre Legrain.  The fountain’s pool, not pictured, contains sculptures of horses emerging from the water, which were created by yet another sculptor, Emmanuel Frémiet.  But it is only Carpeaux’s name on the fountain.

The back of this card is even more fascinating:

The card is addressed to Monsieur et Madame Poulain (ancestors of Amelie, perhaps?) at 6 Rue de la Présentation in Paris, which is looking a little worse for wear today.  The message is in an antique hand, and seems to be misspelled and ungrammatical here and there in a language that I don’t speak well, but I believe that it reads something like the following (please feel free to correct me):

All my regrets at not being here yesterday to thank you for your strong support. I charge this card with the deed and will meet both of you for dinner tomorrow night Friday without fail.  I embrace you (both). Yvette.

I guess the modern equivalent is receiving an email that closes with the word “hugs.”  There’s also a postscript in the upper left: “Alice wants(?) me to hug you for her.”  Let us hope that Yvette kept her appointment, gave hugs all around, and didn’t have to send another apology.

YingHui sent me a Japanese card of this work by Ai Yamaguchi, a young artist of excellent reputation.  Her work combines classic Japanese art with pop culture themes.  The original works are acrylic on Japanese paper, and each of the original paintings measures 4¾ x 4¾ inches (about 12 x 12 centimeters).

“Gold panning is a livelihood for many Alaskans. It’s not uncommon to pan for nuggets the size of raisins.” This card arrived today from Kris, who hosts a blog describing his own postcard collection which, like mine, spans several generations over more than a century.  The card is oversized (about 5″ x 7″, suitable for framing), but arrived relatively unscathed nonetheless.

Kris also included a few interesting comments regarding the image, but one must bear in mind that, living in Alaska, Kris has never actually seen a woman up close before. Published by Off-The-Wall, Inc. Photo credit: Calvin Hall.

Thanks are owed to Kris for increasing the size of my Alaska postcard collection by 50%.  A fellow collector, he writes: “Found your site and thoroughly enjoy it…. Like yours, my collection began at the behest of my elders.”  Hey it saved us both the trouble of starting from scratch!  Be sure to check out Kris’s collection which, like mine, spans over a hundred years.

I have received my first card from another Postcrossing enthusiast, but it wasn’t an “official” card, but rather an offsite round robin in which (in this case) five people get together and send cards to the other four. Alice in Minneapolis writes: “Isn’t she glorious! The rings are great but I can’t figure out the headgear! Is it sunglasses and a bad shadow, or something wrapped low on her nose?” It looks to me as though she’s wearing a hairnet, and has torn a hole in it to allow her to wear her sunglasses while wearing the net as low as possible. After all, a girl’s got to do something to stay beautiful if she’s going to ride 400 miles in a convertible.

This photo was taken by Jacques-Henri Lantigue, but the card is thoroughly modern and was published by Fotofolio.

This is a pristine linen card, circa 1945, postally unused. As with other cards in this series, I have no idea who the publisher might be.

You don’t think this card is some sort of metaphor, do you?

This linen postcard is in immaculate condition. There is absolutely no indication of who the publisher might be; there’s nothing on the back except “Post Card”; “This Space for Writing Messages”; and “Place One Cent Stamp Here”.

This is a “Lusterchrome” postcard, number K-6218, by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston 15, Mass. The card has some post-production stamped text on the back reading “Greetings from Jekyll Island, Georgia” — no doubt where this card was originally sold — but it’s unlikely that this is where the photo was taken. This card is unused and in pristine condition.

Is it just me, or do the men appear to outnumber the women in this photo by about 37 to 1? And where are the bikinis?

“THE SENSATION OF THE YEAR. FIRST PRIZE — At Paris Salon, June 1912, for which the Artist won the medal of honor, the highest recognition which any Artist can attain in France. The picture shows a rarely beautiful blond figure posed in the waters of the sea of Brittany an an hour when it glows like a great fire opal.” I had to think about this description for a while. I don’t think the writer means that the figure is only beautiful on rare occasions; I think he means that the beauty itself is rare.

Although Chabas won the Medal of Honor in France, the painting attracted little attention. Thus, he sent it to America to attract a buyer, where it was spotted in a gallery window by Anthony Comstock, moral crusader and founder of the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. As a result of the publicity, bright boys began reproducing the image on everything from cigar boxes to calendars to postcards — one of which you see above, contemporary to the scandal. Thanks to Comstock’s political appointment as an agent of the Postal Service, the postcard itself was prohibited in the mails; consequently, this card is unused.

This sepia-toned reproduction does not do justice to the painting. I purchased this card in an antique shop for a dollar. Below is a representation of the entire painting.

“Are you tired and sluggish? Can’t seem to keep up?” I can’t think of a single person I know to whom caffeine is not a crutch — but I can think of several people, myself included, who would be legally dead without it.

This postcard, #1263 from The American Postcard Company, Inc., was printed in Canada.

I have a distinct recollection of picking up this card (along with a few other humorous cards) off a rack in a fairly spacious shop, but have no idea where it was. Probably I hadn’t had enough coffee that day.