Postcards from the Evansville Museum

Early 20th Century Easter Postcard - 1966.274.0000c18

Before the days of electronic media and social postings, postcards were a primary way for people to share their travels with the folks back home or to share greetings with friends and family. Whether one was on an adventure or wanting to drop a quick note, postcards were sent illustrating exciting experiences and/or to simply stay in touch. The Evansville Museum is fortunate to have in its collection hundreds of postcards that primarily document the city and major holidays.

But how did postcards get their start and what is their history? Following is a brief look at their background in the United States (other countries had varying histories) and a glimpse at a few of the postcards in the Museum’s collection.

In 1861, the United States Congress authorized printed cards that could be sent through the mail with the first official use of the word “postcard” occurring 12 years later in the form or pre-stamped, one-cent cards issued by the government. Though privately produced cards could not be called postcards and cost two cents to mail, private firms were allowed to print images on government postcards. This proved popular and especially for major events including the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Early 20th Century, Corner of Second & Sycamore Streets, Present Site of Fifth Third Bank Parking Garage, Gift of Gail Sickman & Greg Kranawetter in Memory of their Grandparents - 2020.019.0043

In 1898, the Congress authorized private companies to produce postcards, though they could not officially use the term on printed material until 1901. Further changes marked the beginning of a “Golden Age” of postcards. Commencing in 1907, regulations allowed for written messages on the back of postcard. Previously written messages were restricted to the front with the back reserved for the recipient’s address. This is often referred to as the beginning of the “divided back” era—that is using half of the back of the postcard for the sender’s message and the other section for the recipient’s address. The expansion of free postal delivery to rural areas of the United States also increased the use of postcards; they were a quick, inexpensive way to send messages to others.

U. S. Soldiers Training for World War I, circa 1918, Gift of Carroll Rae Feistel in Memory of Louis F. Miller & Robert O. Burgner - 2017.017.0028

A decline in this short-lived “Golden Age” began with the passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff in 1909 that placed a high import duty on German postcards. The outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 further limited the importation of cards from Germany and the supplies used to produce them in the United States.

This was followed by the so-called “white boarder age” from circa 1915-1930 and the “linen age” through the 1930s. In the “white border age” publishers, to save ink and thereby money, produced white borders around the edges of postcards. In the “linen age”, postcards were not literally produced on linen, but were printed in a way that provided a high quality, textured appearance.

Riverside Drive during 1937 Flood—one of many scenes reproduced in postcard form, Gift of Lida Edwards - 1955.128.0004

Though postcard eras overlap, the most recent one began in the late 1930s with the introduction of postcards that closely resembled color photographs in appearance. Primarily glossy in look, these provide high contrast images depicting people, places, and events.

Mid-20th Century, Dress Regional Airport, Evansville - 2009.034.0024