1848-1872 1873-1897 1898-1913 1914-1945 1946-1990 1991-2008
Post Cards
Between the Wars
1914-1945
While new Congressional Acts lifted the 1909 tariffs imposed against foreign producers of postcards the damage was already done. By 1913 the postcard market had bottomed out, and poorer quality cards were already beginning to become dominant. The First World War would add unforeseen circumstances into play that would further hurt the sale of cards. These new elements superseded the market forces that normally drive card production, taking many decisions out of publishers hands. Many of the resources required by printers suddenly became difficult to find or denied to them completely as they were diverted towards war production. Even so postcards continued to be manufactured and purchased for they played an important role in keeping up wartime moral, and were also an important tool in spreading propaganda. The printing industry in the years that followed the war was a shadow of its former self. Some companies had merged in efforts to save themselves but many of the best publishers and printers went out of business completely. Supplies were low, costs were high, and the poor quality cards produced ended the public’s fascination with them. The war years themselves really need to be looked at as a closed interim period in regard to postcards, for the surrounding events did not follow any sort of historical progression. While the new circumstances had great influence on postcards, they just suddenly appeared and then ended.
The postwar years remained troubled and full of uncertainty as the old social order collapsed. But underlying problems were ignored by those of the war weary public that could, and the Roaring Twenties were marked by much frivolity and disregard for traditional values and authority. Postcard subjects reflected this attitude by becoming generally light in nature. While the San Francisco earthquake caused a multitude of postcard images to be produced, the more widespread disaster of the great 1927 Mississippi flood just nineteen years later barely had any effect on card production.
This was also a time when modernist attitudes of the prewar years were just starting to be felt. As theses factors began to revitalize the postcard industry it was suddenly faced with the onset of a great economic depression. Desperate people sought out radical solutions and the ranks of the Communists and Fascists grew. Social fears were expressed in the form of racism, so there was little in this time too outlandish to keep it from being made into a postcard. Three types of cards would dominate this period, all influenced by hard economic realities if not political ones; white border cards, hand colored cards, and those printed in monochromes. Linen and photochrome cards would have their introduction in these years, but as with the First World War, the Second World War would again usher in austerities, and delay their production in any significant numbers.
INTERMEZZO - THE GREAT WAR 1914-1922
Already on the decline from high tariffs and social changes, the beginning of the First World War in 1914 created a great disruption in postcard production. With the best printing houses located in Germany the source of most cards were cut off from the United States, first by embargo, then by our entrance into the war. Both Germany and Austria continued to print high quality military cards but few reached the our shores. On top of this a War Tax of one cent was added to postage between 1917-1919 further cutting down on the demand for cards. President Wilson orders to the Postmaster General only further discouraged the use of postcards. Those Cards deemed suspicious, like those written in a foreign hand, were to be confiscated and sent to the Solicitor of the Post Office Department for investigation. Cards found expressing pro-Irish or anti-British sentiments were also seized and destroyed. Dissenters were officially denied mail delivery. Patriotic organizations were urged to form so that the names of anyone supporting peace could be turned in to the Justice Department. Many wound up being arrested without due process and others deported without any formal charges.
Despite the difficulties of producing cards in wartime the printers of all nations did their best to satisfy the publics hunger for war news. Many of the early depictions presented combat scenes with the same romantic notions as held by the first volunteers. There was little blood to be seen and the enemy was always on the run, but before the War’s end many gruesome scenes found their way onto postcards. Publishers were not the least bit shy about depicting scenes of death amidst furious battles. While most of these cards were artist drawn numerous real photo cards were also made showing trenches filled with the bones of the dead. American cards by contrast to European production were fewer in number and more patriotic than violent in outlook.
CREEL COMMISSION
To encourage this Country’s march toward war and then enlistments, more propaganda was produced in these years than at any other time. Americans of German ancestry were our largest ethnic group, and many who emigrated here were of a pacifist nature. The draft in the American Civil War abused their community, and this was still in many minds. All this added up into a great resistance to enter the war in Europe. The Wilson administration went to great lengths to turn these attitudes around creating the Creel Commission by executive order in 1917. The Commission felt that it was absolutely necessary for the government to engage in producing propaganda otherwise the public would never support unpopular policies. They gathered a teem of artists including Charles Dana Gibson, James Montgomery Flagg, Joseph Pennell, Louis Fancher, and N.C. Wyeth to create posters, many of which found there way onto postcards. Soon anti-German propaganda abounded much of it having no relation to the truth. Pro-German cards were also produced by other publishers until the Sedition Act of 1918 prevented any alternative viewpoints to be aired, as all criticism of the U.S. Government was now considered a criminal act.
AFTERMATH
While there was no major fighting in German cities, the War wound up destroying the German printing industry through reparations of equipment and trade secrets; it would never figure as substantially in American postcards again. Printers in the United States and Great Britain stepped in to fill the void but the poor quality of many of these cards finished off the postcard craze. Americans quickly turned their interests away from war motifs but troubled times persisted. While an Armistice was signed in 1918 fighting continued as World War turned to Civil War in Russia and revolution came to Germany and Ireland. Great influenza outbreaks killed tens of millions. Dramatic policy changes to keep out immigrants were introduced, The Federal Constitution would be amended twice as prohibitionists attempted to stop the consumption of alcohol, and suffragists demanded the vote. Eugenics and Fascism were on the rise, and the Ku Klux Clan was approaching its height. As the old order collapsed the world began a slow march toward another great war.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
At the end of the Great War in 1918 not all Americans found themselves on the way home. For a few more years we would be battling the Reds in Siberia. This action was a bit of an anomaly as the Wilson Administration had largely involved our military in excursions to our south. In 1912 there were military landings in Cuba and Nicaragua, Haiti in 1915, and the Dominican Republic and Cuba once again in 1916. Although some of these occupations went on for many years, there is little recognition of any of these small wars on postcards. Because all these conflicts were very unpopular with the American public and highly criticized abroad there was little market for postcards depicting them and few were published. Our actions against Mexico proved to be a bit of an exception. The Tampico Affair led to an American attack on Veracruz in 1914, almost causing an all out war, but our Marines had left after six months of occupation. For a relatively brief action a good number of real photo postcards were produced, some even capturing the sporadic fighting in the city’s streets. Many real photos also captured scenes from the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa from 1916 to 1917. As General Pershing was consumed with chasing phantoms for most of his time in Mexico, many of the cards depicting his army and Texas border posts are rather mundane, though interspersed with occasional gruesome scenes.
INBETWEEN 1923-1936
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
Because the water-based inks of the 15th century would bead up on Gutenberg’s metal type, he designed one based on oil paints to print the very first book. Little had changed in the next 400 years until the field of Organic Chemistry evolved in the 19th century, where much of this new found knowledge was applied to the making of colorants. Many of the new colors acquired proved to be unstable, fading or changing hue over time. As fierce competition grew between England and Germany to invent and patent new synthetics, more careful research was done to insure color stability. When six German companies merged into a cartel, IG Farben became the world’s largest manufacturer of chemicals including inks and dyes. Cartel agreements almost created a German monopoly letting them control 88% of all colorants. They were known to purchased patents from other Countries then refused to grant licenses back to them. The American ink industry was practically non-existent at this time with nearly all materials being imported from Germany. The Great War created a worldwide crisis in printing as ink supplies dwindled. At one point the United States did not have enough ink to print money let alone color postcards. At war’s end the German ink industry was devastated along with their printing houses. Many of their industrial patents were seized as war prizes and new manufacturing centers grew elsewhere. This crisis also inspired more research into synthetic pigments and dyes. But it took years to catch up and postcard quality suffered for it. Leissez faire economic policies eventually allowed the German chemical industry to reestablish itself causing America’s fledgling industry to become codependent with it. It would take WWII for the United States to appropriate more trade secrets and eventually lead the world in ink production.
Most postcards were printed with inks consisting of dry pigments ground into oils or resins. Dyes were another source of color. Their greater color density created much stronger effects than pigment could. They are also receptive to additives such as optical brighteners. We understand today that light excites electrons as they passes through dyes making the colors more intense. For dyes color emerges as a function of light energy, not reflected light. Unfortunately when used for printing their more watery consistency allows them to soak into a paper’s fibers instead of lying on the surface as traditional pasty inks. This in turn led to dull soft looking images. Combined with their slow drying time, dyes were impracticable for commercial printing until the 1930’s.
WHITE BORDER CARDS 1913 - 1930’s
There had been a general trend of increasing the image size on cards from the early vignettes of private mailing cards to the full bleeds that became common after the divided back was introduced. But producing cards with bleeds required high production skills. Typically postcards were printed in large sheets and the paper cut down to sizes afterwards. The printing image on a bleed must actually be larger than the card and the excess image trimmed off. In 1913 as German cards grew more expensive then impossible to import, more American printers began manufacturing cards and there was a noticeable increase in white borders. These cards could be printed utilizing technicians with fewer skills than were found in Germany, for these cards only needed to be cut apart. The white border was forgiving and small mis-cuts would only affect the blank border and not the image. The use of borders became common to postcards of the 1920’s and into the 30’s. Not all companies used white borders but with fewer printers left in the business, the major companies that did employ them produced a high enough percentage of cards to turn them into a noticeable style. The ink shortages at the end of the World War further encouraged this trend. Even when ink supplies were revived the cost saving aspect of this procedure in materials and labor ensured its popularity among printers. Though usually of poorer quality when compared to earlier cards, some companies managed to produce outstanding images. The pictures on them often tended to become more stylized and less detail oriented. White Border Cards are defined by the period they come from and should not be confused with postcards that have a white border. Certain publishers used white borders throughout the 20th century.
SMALL FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHY
During the war years interest in real-photo cards did not decline as fast as printed ones because their supply was not dependent on imports and remained readily available. In 1914 Kodak introduced their Autographic camera that had a special door in the back allowing photographs to be easily labeled by writing directly on a negative with a scribe. 1914 was also the year that Germany’s Ur-Leica readapted motion picture film creating a 35mm still camera. It was not mass marketed however until the 1920’s, and only became popular in the 1930’s. The smaller negatives required postcard sized prints to be enlarged often with an easel to hold the paper in place, and white borders became more common. With the invention of the PACO high-speed photo printer in 1910, up to 1,200 real-photo cards could be contact printed in an hour. It was not until 1937 with the new Velox rapid projection printer that photo cards were mass produced by enlarging. In the 1940’s when continuous paper processors, based on motion picture technology were introduced, the rate of production doubled. The increasing number of small sized negatives from a growing variety of amateur cameras continued to be contact printed adding some unusually broad borders to cards. A whole new generation of faster photo papers were eventually created to accommodate the growing interest in the enlarging process.
With the ability to produce many more cards cheaply some companies reprinted images shot decades earlier. Though brighter, glossier, and containing more contrast, they lack the homemade charm of earlier cards. While the Kodak Girls encouraged many to take up photography, real-photos postcards started loosing their popularity in the 1930’s as other sources of photographic imagery became more readily available. After photo-like photochrome cards were introduced real photo postcards have all but disappeared.
RACIST HUMOR
Racism like the risqué is often hard to pin down when looking at it from a distant retrospect. While many real photo postcards may have depicted horrific racial crimes such as lynching and the burning of Black communities, their message is somewhat dependent on the perspective they are viewed from and not from content. Traditionally most ethnic people were depicted without showing overt racial intent, but the images were carefully chosen to make sure their inhabitants did not look too autonomous or equal in stature to the purchaser of the card. When viewing Black cards one would think there was little more to their lives than picking cotton or eating watermelon. By focusing only on specific stereotypes these cards reinforced the notions of keeping people in their proper place through expressions of a natural order.
By WWI there were fewer attempts to disguise racist content largely due to its promotion by President Wilson and his efforts to begin segregating the Federal government. While an exposed ankle of a woman was enough to get a postcard seized by postal authorities, there was no limit placed on the amount of racial slurs that could be sent through the mail. Almost all racial stereotypes in the United States were made under the ruse of humor, theoretically diffusing their degrading intent. Like there predecessors these cards also reinforced stereotypes but of a much harsher nature. These cards became very popular and were sold in great numbers. They seem to be a fearful reaction against the liberalizing changes that were especially growing in the 1920’s, when there was more interracial mingling, and Black communities started defining themselves on their own terms.
While many groups were targeted to become the other, Blacks were the main focus of such humor in the United States while Jews drew the most attention in Europe. Since Jews often attained higher positions in society than their Black counterparts, humor alone did not suffice as an effective tool against them and they were more often portrayed in threatening terms. Racism grew in an atmosphere of social uncertainty poisoned by the growing pseudo-science of Eugenics. Little was done to curb racial imagery on cards as racism itself became official government policy in the forms of greater segregation and the ending of our open door immigration policy to all but northern Europeans. As laws were passed in efforts to create a master race in the United States tens of thousands were forcibly sterilized. Our efforts, greatly admired by the Nazis, were encouraged and supported in Europe by various American foundations. Only after these concepts eventually cumulated in death camps did it become more difficult to espouse racial ideals.
Women who had been traditionally depicted on cards as objects of innocence or beauty also became increasingly the focal point of degrading humor especially as the suffragists gained momentum. While earlier depictions of women reinforced the limited stereotypes a woman could play, their attempts to break out of these confines created a pictorial backlash. Humor was seen as an effective and acceptable means to attack women for it could trivialize their ambitions while its mean spirit could be disguised.
POST CARD FOLDERS
Before the Great War, a common tourist commodity was the small souvenir album depicting a variety of views. Its apparent successor began to appear in number during the 1920’s as double-sided postcards that were attached in accordion fashion, and then folded into a colorfully printed cover. The entire folder is designed so it can be mailed as one piece. This allowed customers to get more images for their money while providing greater profits to the seller. The large amount of images included forced them to be printed on thin paper rather than card stock to cut down on weight. Only their protective covers were heavier. Even though these folders tended to be very poorly printed, their bargain price kept them popular into the 1960’s. They still continue to be printed.
A variation of the folder is the post card booklet. Cards were sold bound together under a cover, but were made so they could be torn out and mailed. A postcard with one perforated edge is a sign that it came from one of these booklets. Theses cards were often hand colored and of better quality than those found in folders. Booklets were not very common and many are no longer intact. This style was revived in the 1990’s, but usually with reproductions of older images.
ETCHED CARDS
Though seen for a number of years, it was in the 1920’s that original etchings were more commonly used for postcards. Not to be confused with reproductions, these cards were hand printed, either in black & white or using colored inks a la poupé. Some of these cards were even hand colored and employed chin collé techniques. Even the edges of many cards were falsely deckled to imitate the traditional hand made papers of fine art prints. Most etched cards were printed by artist cooperatives or small publishers not normally in the postcard business. Some even have blank backs, which may indicate they were published by the individual artists who created them. Some postcards printed in lithographic halftones were made to imitate etched cards often incorporating a false plate mark.
Hand printed postcards from woodcut blocks were also sometimes made in both black & white and in color but they are fare less common than etchings. They can be confused with the continuous toned lithographic cards that reproduce woodcut imagery. Actual wood block prints are quite rare among commercial printers and are more likely to be found printed by individual artists. While block prints were more often American made, especially in New England, etched prints more often originate in Europe.
THE LOST GENERATION
As America caught up with the material shortages imposed by the First World War, its economy began to boom making the United Stated the richest nation in the world. For the first time most of its population were living in cities, and with new consumer goods readily available, optimism in modern technology grew. But it was also a time when the tragedy of the Great War led many to break with the Victorian traditions of the past. The imposition of prohibition in 1920 caused not only much contempt for these unevenly enforced laws but towards all authority in general. Out of this a more open minded decadent culture was born, well exemplified in the growing popularity in Jazz that came to define the time. Postcards for the most part ignored many of these new trends concentrating on on the staple view-card, which looked little different from prewar cards except in poorer printing quality. These cultural shifts made more inroads on illustrated postcards as seen in the fascination with the Flapper, a continuation of the ideals of the New Woman, but dressed more practically for inclusion in the increasingly female workforce. Many writers of this period became disillusioned with our materialism and outdated values that still held sway and left America for the more Cosmopolitan life to be found in Europe. But the United States was redefining itself and proved fertile ground for their modern outlook. The more conservative 1930’s however would usher in a cultural backlash and many progressive trends would end or be reversed.
DECORATIVE MODERNISM
The many modern art movements that were born before WWI had little to no influence on the graphics of postcards. But at the end of the war many felt they had entered a new period in history, one that required new aesthetic values. But the new art movements that would now emerge in Europe played little role in American graphic arts. Protectionist tariffs kept many goods out of the U.S. market including influence from the postcards of a revitalized overseas printing industry. But three new interrelated design styles did become popular here between the two World Wars that reflected a rejection of the past and the yearning for a better future. All three would have an affect on the way postcards were designed and on the content they held. But these changes only affected design as very little social comment wound up on cards as subject matter.
Art Nouveau, which had been popular since the 1890’s, became associated with the class and stagnant forces that brought the world to war. When a new modern design style was introduced at the Paris Worlds Fair of 1925, since coined Art Deco, it was presented in opposition to these old values. It emphasized cleaner forms and harder angles while drawing inspiration from ancient and non-Western art. Though very influential on architecture, it is also known for its introduction of household items made from plastics in unforeseen colors and shapes. But with extensive mass production it lost its aura of elegance and then its popularity by WWII.
The Staatliches Bauhaus operated in Germany between 1919-1933 for the purpose of improving people’s lives by uniting art with technology. Material shortages in the post war years were to be made up for with superior design that ignored precedent. They had an egalitarian approach believing everyone was entitled to live with finely crafted goods and they sought a way to design them cheaply to make this a reality. Unlike many earlier art movements that espoused change, the Bauhaus embraced technology and mass production. Because of their emphasis on improving the well being of the common man they were seen as communist sympathizers by the incoming Nazi regime, and these artists either fled or were forced into exile to the Soviet Union and the United States. Here their teachings continued to grow into an influential movement and led to the creation of the International Style.
Though often associated with Art Deco, Streamline design was a style that came into its own right in the 1930’s under a very different social climate. Streamlining derives from the scientific principal that curves of certain proportions will provide the least resistance to currents of air or water. Though it proved of some use on cars and planes, it did not improve the aerodynamics of items such as refrigerators or radios that it was often attached to. More than a science it came to represent faith in progress and in the future. Its diversified use was a reflection of modernist attitudes now found within the general population. Streamlining did not changing the graphic design of postcards, but its influence can be found on the design of everything from buildings to trains depicted on cards.
SURREALISM
The Surrealist art movement originating in postwar Paris had spread globally by the 1930’s. While their work became widely known little of it filtered down to affect the imagery placed on postcards. The real influence however was the other way around. Many Surrealist artists were avid postcard collectors. Some were attracted to the way in which postcards gained popular appeal by leveling class, culture, and gender differences, a goal that many of them shared. Others were attracted to the underlying symbolism found in postcards that was often placed there unconsciously. Some images were once highly potent when created in a far less visually stimulated society than we have today. Postcards in these artist’s collections not only provided inspiration but were also used to create new works of art in both collage and film.
While the surrealists had an abundance of manifestos and theories it is only the clarification of their ideals that may be original. Though rare to find, artists had always dealt with issues relating to the unconscious mind long before anyone had any exacting knowledge of its existence. Portraits created by the montage of non related objects had been painted centuries earlier and could be found in 19th century illustration. This tradition of montage was carried over onto artist signed cards as soon as they began being published. These evolved into compositions containing unexpected juxtapositions, often by photomontage, in an effort to create humor. We now refer to many of these cards as exaggerations. It is ironic that Surrealism had little effect on postcard imagery while exaggeration cards printed years earlier greatly effected Surrealism.
There are also postcards that were not produced with any surreal or even comical intentions that have gained surreal status just through the passage of time. On cards where once common associations have now disappeared we find ourselves unable to read them, and must delve into our own unconscious to find meaning. A card depicting a simple household product that needed no explanation it its day may be impossible to relate to now conjuring up the wildest associations.
GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT
There is good reason for the lack of roadside cards from the Golden Age; there were no roads, or at least not as we’ve come to know them. It was an era of large Victorian hotels, where you would more than likely arrive by train, steamboat, or stagecoach over a dusty dirt path. Prior to 1925 it was private road clubs that maintained America’s highways. Many were highways in name only being little more than an acepted route over a hodgepodge of roads and trails. An early trip from New York to San Francisco on the Lincoln Highway took two months, if you got there. The impedes to improve our nations roads did not originate with the invention of the automobile, but with the Good Roads Movement which began in 1880 at the instigation of cyclists. Eventually automobile manufactures added their support when they realized the limited marketability of their product in a nation of poor roads. There was much debate within the organization of whether money should go to build local networks to improve commerce or a nationwide system to aid transcontinental touring. They helped form automobile clubs that sponsored the building of cross-country roads as the Lincoln Highway in 1913, and the Dixie Highway in 1915.
In 1911 the National Highways Association formed to encourage the Government to fund a system of national highways. Federal Aid Highway Acts eventually started to improve conditions and standardize signs. All this encouraged more and more Americans to take to the road. Improvised auto-camps sprang up where a tent hanging from the side of a car would provide the nights accommodations. By the 30’s cabins and other amenities sprang up to take advantage of the increasing traffic. After many functional U.S. Routes were established in the 1940’s, an entire roadside culture began to flourish. As America became consumed with the automobile, postcards refocused their attention away from small town themes to tourist attractions.
THE GREAT MISTAKE 1925 - 1928
On April 15, 1925 the postage rate for picture postcards was raised to two cents, though government issued postals remained a penny. This proved so unpopular that postcard sales fell dramatically. The government was forced to repeal the rate hike on June 30th, 1928.
ARCADE CARDS
These cards were dispensed by machines usually found at arcades or fairs for a penny. Pictures of movie stars, sports figures, suggestive cartoons, and pin-up girls were the most common subjects. They were poorly printed usually in black & white or monochrome tints and were blank on the back. Though meant for collecting not mailing, they were the same size as postcards and stamps often found a way to their backs an off they went. Around since the turn of the Century, they became common in the 1930’s and faded away by the 1960’s. As all mechanical dispensing devices became associated with vice, arcade and gum dispensers were sometimes destroyed along with slot machines in anti gambling frenzies.
The Pin-up is most often associated with arcade cards though this genre has a long evolution dating back to early card photos. Though similar to risqué cards in that there was generally no nudity, the pin-up presented a single female as the object of our attention rather than an erotic narrative. In this regard they relate more to the many early postcards depicting the lone woman, especially those of fallen women such as actresses who led lives outside of expected social norms. These images tend to be problematic in that they portray women as objects of sexual desire, yet at the same time the woman themselves often possess a strength and sexual dimension beyond the traditional expectations of them. These images were designed to be socially acceptable expressions of sexuality but they always pressed the limits of public taste. Their duality and contradictory nature has always made these types of images semi-acceptable, causing their production to rise, fall, and rise again as social values change. Their popularity peaked during the Second World War, not just among the many men sent overseas, but because images of strong women were not just acceptable but necessary when everyone was called upon. President Roosevelt declared that discrimination against women would not be tolerated as they left their domestic lives for the workforce. The pinup would be an idol for men and women alike until the end of the War.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION 1929 - 1941
In 1933, at the height of the depression, 25% of all Americans found themselves out of work and 50% of industrial capacity were no longer running. Campgrounds that were created for motor tourists now became the impoverished Hoovervilles of farmers fleeing the Dustbowl. This was a double edge sword for postcards. Well known publishers disappeared and printing quality declined. Labor was so plentiful that hand coloring became cheaper than printing in color and was widely revived. Many more cards were only printed in black & white to reduce costs.
Few cards of this period dealt with adverse social issues as the public was in need of distractions in these hard times. Amusement areas like Coney Island continued to do a brisk business in postcards. There were also many fairs like the Worlds Fair in New York and the Golden Gate International Exposition that released a tremendous amount of postcards. At Chicago’s A Century of Progress, linen cards received their first major exposure.
The growth of the movie industry initially hurt postcard production when public attention shifted to this new medium, but postcards depicting movie stars became all the rage in these years as films became an extremely popular distraction from the woes of the Depression. The movies of this time shared a similar duality with that of the pin-up, in that many depicted women’s behavior at the borderline of public acceptability. While these types of movies were the biggest crowd pleasers, the portrayals of independence and strength were not expressed as virtues. In many ways the role of the postcards that depicted movie stars were identical to that of the pinup.
Baseball had been America’s most important pastime prior to to the Great Depression. The game had undergone many changes in the 1920’s allowing great hitters like Babe Ruth to achieve stardom, and making it ever more popular with the public. Its importance in maintaining safe and recognizable social structures was not lost on President Roosevelt. He encouraged its play throughout the Depression and into the war years to keep up morale; and he felt it was as important as any New Deal policies in keeping up the Nation’s spirit. Not only did baseball popularity make it an important subject for postcards, its heros could be widely found on arcade cards and trade cards as well.
ISOLATIONISM
While the United States has a long history of isolationist tendencies it may largely be due to geography rather than policy. Americans in general have always been internationalists in outlook but the First World War had soured many who felt it was a waste of money and lives. President Wilson’s inability to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or involve us in the League of Nations weakened our ties to Europe. Protectionist tariffs and selective immigration policies further helped isolate us. By the time the Great Depression took hold uncertainty and fear had brought about a true isolationist attitude. Our postcards basically ignored international events and were directed toward National Tourism.
Though many festering problems were ignored during the 1920’s, almost everything became politicized by the 1930’s. Political content and propaganda were once again influencing postcard production but in very small numbers in the States. It was in the European market, as rhetoric between Communists and Fascists heated, that politics made its way onto cards in the form of propaganda and satirical or insulting cartoons. By 1936 when civil war erupted in Spain sides had become clearly drawn. Though Americans began volunteering in other nations to fight Fascism well before our entry into WWII, our isolationist period would not truly end until the attack on Pearl Harbor.
MONOCHROMES
While most monochromatic postcards were printed in black & white, they can be found in many shades of blue, green or brown. Being the easiest to print, postcards of one color have been used since their inception. Some publishers would even offer the same color image in black & white at a reduced price. Because of the lower density of ink, the details on the black & white versions were often sharper. In the Golden Age monochrome cards were just another minor variation to what was then available, but by the 1930’s they became extremely common in efforts to drive down cost. Most of the newer cards were printed as cheap halftone lithographs of varying quality. There were a few exceptions of high quality sets printed in photogravure. Though the best cards of their time, their higher price prevented them from becoming as popular here as they were in Europe. With the introduction of photochromes, the monochrome postcard disappeared in relevant numbers.
By the late 1920’s new colorants had been developed that were very enticing to the printing industry. Though they were best used as dyes to show off their brightness, this proved to be problematic. Where traditional pigment based inks would lie on a paper’s surface, these thinner watery dyes had a tendency to be absorbed into a paper’s fibers where it lost its advantage of higher color density leaving behind a dull blurry finish. To experience the rich colors of dyes light must be able to pass through them to excite their electrons. A parcial solution was to combine these dyes with petroleum distillates leading to faster drying heatset inks. But it was Curt Teich who finally solved the problem by embossing paper with a linen texture before printing. The embossing created more surface area, which allowed the new heatset inks to dry even faster. The quicker drying time allowed these dyes to remain on the paper’s surface thus retaining their superior strength, which give Linens their telltale bright colors. In addition to printing with the usual CYMK colors, a lighter blue was sometimes used to give the images extra punch. Higher speed presses could also accommodate this method leading to its widespread use. Although first introduced in 1931, their growing popularity was interrupted by the onset of war. They were not to be printed in numbers again until the later 1940’s when the war effort ceased consuming most of the country’s resources. Even though the images on linen cards were based on photographs, they contained much handwork of the artists who brought them into production. There is of course nothing new in this; what it notable is that they were to be the last postcards to show any touch of the human hand on them.
Although a printing revolution was inspired by Curt Teich’s understanding of the advantage embossed paper had in speeding the drying time of dye based inks, he was not the first to use embossed paper. Textured papers for postcards had been manufactured ever since the turn of the century. But since this procedure was not then a necessary step in aiding card production, its added cost kept the process limited to a handful of publishers. Its original use most likely came from attempts to simulate the texture of canvas, thus relating the postcard to a painted work of fine art.
MAXIMUM CARDS 1932
In 1896 a postcard was mailed from Greece where the sender defied postal regulations and applied a postage stamp to the image side of the card. It was a natural response for someone who was interested in stamp collecting as well as the newer hobby of postcard collecting. In this way both stamp and image were visible when the postcard was placed into an album. As this became a more common practice the term Timbre Cote Vue or just Verso were written into the stampbox to inform the postal clerk that the stamp was on the other side. From this they became known as TCV Cards. Eventually more elaberate practices developed as collectors would continue to mail these cards to see how many different stamps from different countries could be affixed. By 1932 the term Maximum Card was first used, where the similarities of image, stamp, and cancel were in maximum relationship to one another. Placing stamps on the image side of a card was always more popular among stamp collectors than postcard collectors who tend to prefer their cards in mint condition. In 1980 the realizing of maximum cards had become an independent branch of Philately.
INTERMEZZO - THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1937-1945
Relations between Japan and China had been tense since their first conflict in 1894. During the 1930’s there were a number of military incursions into China labeled Incidents but by 1937 Japan began a full scale invasion against this week Republic to carryout its imperialist ambitions. Japan wasn’t alone for Italy had been carving out an empire in Africa since 1936 and Germany was expanding its borders in Europe through intimidation. By 1939 war had broken out in Europe with Germany’s invasion of Poland. Many postcards were made capturing all these events but they were almost all published outside of the United States. Not until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor did the American postcard industry begin producing military related postcards in large numbers.
Many propaganda and war related cards were printed in these years but they tended to avoid combat scenes in favor of motifs more patriotic in nature or anti-Axis. The great losses of World War One were too vivid a memory for many, resulting in few attempts to romanticize the bloody battlefield. The postcards of these war years most often took the form of comics poking fun at the recruit’s new way of life at military camps or of the hardships at the front line. Many more were generic depictions of fighting equipment or military camps so no sensitive information would be revealed. It wasn’t unusual for cards from this period to have parts of their written messages blackened out by government censors.
Wars are expensive to conduct, and years of financial depression did little to fill our Treasury’s coffers. In 1941 the Savings Bonds of the government’s six year old security program were renamed Defense Bonds in an attempt to attract more buyers. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor their name was quickly changed again to War Bonds to appeal to patriotic values. The War Finance Committee organized eight drives utilizing all forms of available media. The ads often stressed a spirit of sacrifice encouraging ordinary American’s at home to do their part for the war by purchasing bonds. Despite efforts to unite everyone in a common cause sales slackened as the war dragged on. To reinvigorate the sales campaign soldiers fresh from the front were sent on tours around the country, often putting on demonstrations of weapons or mock combat. Many images taken from these shows were placed on posters and postcards. By the war’s end 185.7 billion dollars of bonds had been sold at 75% face value.
By the First World War, warships had reached great size and were glorified on postcards if not in battle. The importance of these ships in maintaining empires caused relatively few naval engagements for fear of loosing them. These ships continued to be popular after the war among collectors as well as Navies who kept on building them. The HMS Prince of Wales was one of the last to be built. The British admiralty was astonished that this modern ship went down so quickly when attacked by Japanese bombers in 1941. Near the end of World War Two the Japanese battleship Yamato, the most powerful in the world, was also sunk solely by American aircraft. While these types of warships continue to be used, their dominance in combat and romance has passed to the air. The public’s desire to collect this once very popular subject on postcards has subsequently dwindled and is currently limited to a niche audience.
VICTORY MAIL
When troops are stationed overseas a large amount of mail between family members tends to be generated. While writing home had long been encouraged as a way to keep up an Army’s moral, this policy was not completely beneficial to postcards during these years. When the United States entered the Second World War in December of 1941, the War Production Board began restricting the amount of materials that could go into the production of non-essential items such as postcards. V-Mail was introduced on June 15th, 1942; after the first American troops landed in North Africa to save valuable cargo space on oversees shipments. Correspondence was written on special forms available to servicemen or sold at Five & Dimes and Post Offices. Once written on they were microfilmed and then reprinted at a reduced size at their destination. A seven-ounce roll of film could contain as many as 1500 letters. Their compact size allowed them to be transported along with other priority items greatly increasing delivery speed. By 1944 they were at their peak use. Even though over a billion V-mails were sent, they were still outnumbered by real letters and postcards. V-mail service ended in April of 1945.
SOLDIER’S MAIL
During the American Civil War the Federal Government realized that soldiers on the move had no way of obtaining stamps for their correspondence. A system was devised where they could write their name, rank, and unit on a letter, and it would be mailed for them postage due.
By WWII, the same system was being used except a letter or postcard could now be sent for free (Franking) if the words Free or Soldier’s Mail were written where the stamp should go and the soldier’s outfit and camp were listed. Besides privately printed cards the military issued there own postcards for soldiers use. These were non pictorial but they incorporated bold graphics. These V-Post Cards should not be confused with V-mail as they were not microfilmed but sent out as regular postcards.
Various state commissions also printed special picture postcards exclusively for the use of soldiers. Many of these cards were designed to influence soldiers stationed in that State into returning as tourists once the war was over. The front usually contained images of that states scenery and the back was pre-printed with the required identification lines and a Soldier’s Mail Free stamp box.
The USO produced pictureless correspondence cards for soldier’s use. Some of these had small patriotic designs printed on them. The Red Cross of different nations also published cards for soldiers to use. Unlike the picture cards printed to raise money in the First World War, these cards were usually more austere being designed for simple practicality. A commonly seen card were those supplied to prisoners of war to write home with. Some had pre-printed multiple choice messages on their backs where the non applicable passages would be crossed out. The messages they held were rather simple since they were heavily censored at both ends.
DELTIOLOGY
Starting in May of 1943 a two-digit zone number was required to be added to addresses. It was the beginning of what we now refer to as Zip Code. That same year the postcard hobby received an important boost when Bob Hendricks began publishing Post Card Collectors News. It was the first magazine to specifically tackle this subject and it treated postcards as elements of history rather than mere trinkets. The term Deltiology was coined to describe the study of postcards and present their collecting in a more serious light. Older postcards soon began to attain a value previously not possessed. Cards that had been traded on a one to one basis now had criteria attached that varied their desirability and worth. Hendricks work not only inspired others to follow with newsletters and books, it would eventually lead to the formation of a new generation of collectors clubs.
