Matrimonial Bliss

Postmarked Clinton, Iowa
26 March 1907

Golden Gate Bridge

Uncirculated

Lincoln Park Zoo Zebras

Postmarked 1909, Chicago

Public Gardens | Boston, MA

Postmarked January 1907

Moonlight Over Seneca Lake

Postmarked 1945

Seneca Lake is one of the Finger Lakes, and it is the closest one on the west of Cayuga Lake. Watkins Glen, New York, is at the Southern tip of Seneca Lake, and that is the first town we visited when we came to Central New York for the first time, to visit the Farm Sanctuary and attend the Zoop! fundraiser.

Corning Museum of Glass

Postmarked Corning, NY 1954

World Famous Tree House

Postmarked September 1951

Postcards that Stink (Literally)

One of the hazards of old and vintage postcards is that they sometimes smell from being stored or occasionally from cigarette smoke. A lot I purchased from e-bay had this issue, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I didn't want the smell to contaminate my other cards, nor did I want to send stinky cards to trading partners.

I looked online, and one suggestions was to put two or three postcards on a baking sheet and leave outside in the sun. I might have done this in Phoenix, but in Ithaca, where it is humid and likely to rain, it didn't seem like a sound plan. Additionally, it would have taken forever working on just two or three cards at a time.

Next, I tried putting a dryer sheet in the plastic bin with the postcards. That seemed to help a little, but it primarily masked the musty scent rather than removing it. On George's suggestion, I put baking soda in a small open container and then put that in the plastic bin. Not too much luck there. I thought maybe the baking soda needed more opportunity to breathe, so I placed in in tea filters (what you buy in the grocery store for loose tea). That helped, but too slow for my taste. My last and current attempt had me putting baby powder in the tea filter. The powder particles are smaller than the holes in the filter, so I double-filtered it. This seems to be working fairly well.

Have you had this problem? What have you tried and how were the results?

Taughannock Falls State Park

Postmarked 5-23-1965
Elmira, NY

Merry Easter

I picked this up in the local antique store because my grandmother loves rabbits. It is amusing to me how the message side is just names and is written upside down relative to the address.



Postmarked 1912, Binghamton, NY

Vintage Arizona

Unsent, 1908

Greetings from Ardmore

I will admit that I paid more for this postcard than I have any other, but when it came up on ebay, I had to have it.





As far as I can tell, these are the images in the letters:

A = courthouse
R = Turner Falls
D = Lake (Murray?)
M = Horseshoe Curve, HWY 77 (near Arbuckle Mountains)
O = ?
R = Tucker Tower
E = Tucker Tower (?)

Ardmore's Ramada Inn

Unused - Printed in the 1970s(?)

Undivided Backs

In the early 1900s, postcards were much different than those we see today. The front side included an image, and the back side, due to postal regulations, had to include the heading "Post Card" or "Postcard." Beneath that heading, the space was reserved solely for the address of the recipient. Where did the message from the sender go? At this time, it was accepted to write on the picture, or front, side of the postcard. Otherwise, the card could not be sent through the postal service.

This postcard, postmarked 1908, illustrates this tradition. I was especially excited to find this card because the recipient was at University of Chicago. The address, 6032 Ellis Avenue, now is Burton-Judson Courts, the dorm where I lived my first year at UC.

New Orleans

Postmarked December 1975

University of Oklahoma

Unused - I'm guessing 1910s or 1920s

Laguna Beach

Postmarked 11 July 1970

Parrot Jungle | Miami, FL

Postmarked 14 March 1968

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Postmarked 1974

Vintage Oklahoma

Unused