When did the use of Postcards start?
A copyright on a private postal card was issued to
John P. Charlton of Philadelphia as early as 1861, later
transferred to his fellow townsman, H.L. Lipman. These early
cards, decorated with a slight border pattern and labeled
"Lipman's postal card, patent applied for", were for
sale until 1873 when the first government postcards appeared.
Plain postcards were in use well before that. They were issued by
the post offices of various countries with the country's stamp
imprinted on them. They are referred to as "Postals".
The first appearance of a non-postal "postcard" that
was privately produced to which postage must be affixed, is
accredited to occurring in Austria in 1869. By 1870 picture
postcards were being published in limited quantities throughout
Europe. Until recently, it was thought that U.S. postcard use
lagged farther behind that of European usage.
NOTE: Writings were not permitted by law on the address side of
any postcard until March 1, 1907. For this reason many postcards
up to 1907 have messages across their fronts. Writing on the
front of early postcards is not a fault.
Pioneer Era (Pre 1898)
It used to be thought that "most"
pioneer cards began with the colorful postcards placed on sale at
the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, on May 1, 1893.
Those postcards are of illustrations of buildings and views of
the Exposition printed on government postal cards and those
printed on privately published souvenir cards. The government
postal cards had a printed 1 cent stamp while the souvenir cards
required a 2 cent postage stamp to be applied to them.
Recent detailed studies by advanced collectors have shed light on
even earlier advertising postcards in this early postcard era.
The greatest concentration of these postcards are from New York,
Philadelphia, and other large metro areas in the U.S. and abroad.
The earliest known postcard (as of Sept. 1996) is postmarked Dec.
1848! No doubt the further study of this area of postcard
collecting will reveal many more postcards from the 1848 to 1893
time line.
Most pre-1898 postcards share a few common traits: The postcard
of this era is characterized by an undivided back (no line going
down the center of the back of the postcard), and many contain
printed lines on the back for the name of the addressee and his
address only. Pioneer U.S. postcards are mostly from big Eastern
cities.
Side Note: During this time only the government was allowed to
use the word "POSTCARD" (one word) on the back of the
postcard. Privately published postcards in this era will have the
titles "Souvenir Card", "Correspondence
Card", or "Mail Card" on the back. Government
cards will also have an imprinted Grant or Jefferson head 1 cent
stamp on them. Private postcards required a 2 cent postage.
Private Mailing Card Era (1898 to
Dec. 24, 1901)
On May 19, 1898, by an act of Congress, private
printers were granted permission to print and sell cards that
bore the inscription "Private Mailing Card". We call
these cards "PMC's". Many early Pioneer postcards were
reprinted as PMC's. Postcards of this era have undivided backs.
During this period around 1900, Real Photo postcards (RPs,
postcards on film stock: i.e. pictures) began to filter in use.
These early real photo images were mainly advertising pieces.
Note: In 1898 postage required for mailing a postcard was reduced
from 2 cents to 1 cent. Click here for an example
Undivided Back "Postcard"
Era (Dec. 24, 1901 to March 1, 1907)
The use of the word "POST CARD/POSTCARD"
(as one or two words) was granted by the government to private
printers on Dec. 24, 1901. Writing was still not permitted on the
address side. The publishing of printed postcards during this
time frame doubled almost every six months. European publishers
opened offices in the U.S. and imported millions of high quality
postcards. By 1907, European publishers accounted for over 75% of
all postcards sold in the U.S. The vogue of lithographed cards
caught Eastman-Kodak's attention as well. They issued an
affordable "Folding Pocket Kodak" camera around 1906.
This allowed the mass public to take black & white
photographs and have them printed directly onto paper with
postcard backs. Various other models of Kodak
"postcard" cameras followed igniting a real photo
postcard era. These cameras shared two neat features: their
negatives were postcard size (the major reason why so many of
these images are so clear) and they had a small thin door on the
rear of their bodies that, when lifted, enabled the photographer
to write an identifing caption or comment on the negative itself
with an attached metal scribe.
Note: At the end of this period in time, the picture postcard
hobby became the greatest collectible hobby that the World has
ever known. The official figures from the U.S. Post Office for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, cite 677,777,798 postcard
mailed. That was at a time when the total population of the U.S.
was 88,700,000. Click here for an example
Divided Back Era (March 1, 1907 to
1915) (Golden Age)
Postcards with a divided back were finally
permitted on March 1, 1907. The address had to be written on the
right side of the back of the postcard while the left side was
reserved for writing messages. Postcards from this period are
most collectible when they do not have writing on their fronts.
At this time in American history the postcard hobby became a
public addiction. Publishers printed millions of cards in this
era. Most postcards were printed in Germany, the world leader in
lithographic processes. At the height of the country wide mania,
WWI caused a crash in the hobby. The advent of WWI caused the
supply of postcards from Germany to end. Poorer quality postcards
came from English and U.S. publishers. The lowered quality of the
printed postcard, recurrent influenza epidemics, and WWI war
shortages killed the American postcard hobby. During the war
years the telephone replaced the postcard as a fast, reliable
means to keep in touch. Click here for an example
White Border Era (1915-1930)
After WWI, the German publishing industry was
never rebuilt. Other European publishers were forced out of the
U.S. market by high tariff rates. Most locally available
postcards were printed by U.S. publishers during this period. On
view postcards, to save ink, a white border was left around the
view, thus we call them "White Border" postcards. The
higher costs of post-war publishing combined with inexperienced
labor caused production of poorer quality cards. The public
rapidly lost interest. "Movies" replaced postcards as a
visual experience. Higher competition in a rapidly narrowing
market caused many publishers to go out of business. Real photo
postcard publishers, on the other hand, enjoyed great success.
Various types of rotary drum negative imprinters allowed runs of
1000s of postcards of a particular image. Roadside postcard racks
contained a great variety of these images.
Note: Another notable exception to the "poor quality"
of this time frame are the European "Hand Tinted"
postcards of France and Belgium. These were photo postcards of
all topics and subjects which were colored by hand to lend a
realistic or stylized look. Some are truly works of art.
Unfortunately this brief era ended abruptly also. Coloring of the
postcards was accomplished by teams of trained women artists
sitting in a circle or row in a room. The postcard images were
passed down the line from one girl to another, each being
responsible for one color. To get the fine detail needed for
working on the relatively small postcard images, the women wetted
the tip of their cotton covered brushes with their lips as they
worked. Eventually the lead in the paint they used led to
illnesses forcing the discontinuation of this type of postcard. Click here for an example
Linen Era (1930-1945 (1960?))
New American printing processes allowed printing
on postcards with a high rag content. This was a marked
improvement over the "White Border" postcard. The rag
content also gave these postcards a textured "feel".
They were also cheaper to produce and allowed the use of bright
dyes for image coloring. They proved to be extremely popular with
raodside establishments seeking cheap advertising. Linen
postcards document every step along the way of the building of
America's highway infra-structure. Most notable among the early
linen publishers was the firm of Curt Teich. The majority of
linen postcard production ended around 1939 with the advent of
the color "chrome" postcard. However, a few linen firms
(mainly southern) published until well into the late 50s. Real
photo publishers of black & white images continued to have
success. Faster reproducing equipment and lowering costs led to
an explosion of real photo mass produced postcards. Once again a
war interferred with the postcard industry (WWII). During the
war, shortages and a need for military personnel forced many
postcard companies to reprint older views WHEN printing material
was available. Click here for an example
Photochrome Era (1939 to present)
The Wizard of Oz affirmed America's love for color
images. A new type of postcard, the color "Photochrome"
(called Chrome) appeared around 1939. These "Chrome"
postcards started to dominate the scene soon after they were
launched by the Union Oil Company in their western service
stations in 1939. They were easily produced, of high photo
quality and most importantly, they were in color. Their spread
was momentarily slowed down during WWII due to supply shortages,
but they replaced both linen and black & white postcards by
1945 in the roadside postcard racks. Linen firms converted to
photochrome postcards or went out of business. Black & white
postcard firms merged with larger companies or disappeared. Click here for an example
Click here for an example 
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