1848-1872 1873-1897 1898-1913 1914-1945 1946-1990 1991-2008
Private Mailing Cards
1898
PRIVATE MAILING CARD 1898-1901
At the same time as the U.S. Government was tiring of baring the costs to produce postals, the popularity of Exposition and Souvenir cards enticed more publishers into the business. These publishers lobbied hard for postal reforms and lower rates. While the goverment was eager to transfer the burden of card production, it was worried about the possible loss of postal revenue. Conflicted, the government issued new postal regulations to encourage private card production but with many added restrictions that would make iplementation difficult. Starting on July 1st, 1898 postcards could be sent through the mail for only one cent regardless of whether they contained a message or not. The Post Office Department also ended its monopoly on the printing of postals, but the words Private Mailing Card - Authorized by the Act of Congress on May 19th, 1898 and This side for the address only were required to be printed on the back of all cards not issued by the government. Regulations also required that these cards be slightly smaller in size at 3 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches and printed in light colors of buff, cream, or gray. Many publishers could not afford to redesign their cards to meet the new regulations and they stopped producing cards or went out of business. But the lower price coupled with recovery from five years of depression brought an increasing demand for cards, which in turn brought a flurry of new publishers into the market. Some were waiting for the new regulations to take effect and had new cards available that July. Larger images were introduced to the front of these cards, though many mailing cards retained the format of the pioneers with a small illustration and a large blank area for writing.
While the many new postal restrictions prevented publishers from creating cards in the older pioneer styles, there were many such cards out in shops and in the public hands when the Act took effect and these outdated cards continued to be mailed. Since there were no penalties attached to the Act, pioneer cards were either delivered or sent to the Dead Letter Office at the discretion of the mail handlers.
Use the link below for a more compleate history of this period.