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A Magnificent collection of digital images at high quality and high resolution for New Year,
Christmas, Birthday, and Blank Cards for any other Occasion.
Click here and send as many Ecards as you like.
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HISTORY OF POSTCARD (1889 - 1915)
PIONEER ERA (1889-1898)
This era began when vendors and exhibitors at the French Exposition in Paris (1889) started selling picture postcards.
They gained popularity and helped keep postcards in circulation. They are fairly scarce and have combinations of the
following distinctions:
- Undivided backs
- Do not say "Authorized by Act of Congress" in byline
- If American, they have a Grant or Jefferson head stamp
- Most are multiple view cards
- Postage rate, if listed, will be 2 cents.
- It is usually called Mail Card or Souvenir Card
- Mostly used in larger Eastern cities
PRIVATE MAILING CARD ERA (1898-1901)
As of May 19, 1898, government gave private printers permission to both sell and print postcards inscribed with the
words "Private Mailing Card." (Abbreviated today as PMCs). Many Pioneer Era cards were reprinted as PMCs. 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 advertisements.
Note: In 1898 postage required for mailing a postcard was reduced from 2 cents to 1 cent.
UNDIVIDED BACK ERA (1901-1907)
As of December 24, 1901, printers were allowed to use "Post Card" on the backs of their cards. All of these cards
had undivided backs (Writing was still not permitted on the address side), forcing people to write messages on the front.
For Undivided Back Era postcards, writing on the front is usually acceptable, not usually decreasing the condition grade
of these cards.
The publishing of printed postcards during this time 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 at the back 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.
DIVIDED BACK ERA (1907-1915)
As of March 1, 1907, the divided back postcard came into play. They quickly became more popular because they allowed
senders to write the address and the message on the back of the card. 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 countrywide 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.
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