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“Sweet are the ties of friendship. Greetings of the season to you. Yours sincerely, Addie R. Vanable.”
Sent to Mrs. Frank Sanders of South Cortland, N.Y., on Dec. 29, 1909, this postcard is typical of the postcard greeting cards that proliferated the American postcard market during the early years of the 20th Century.
In 1907, following an act of Congress authorizing the writing of personal messages on the backs of postcards, European postcard manufacturers began opening up offices in the United States just to keep up with the incredible sales of the new medium.
Between 1901 and 1906, picture postcard production is said to have doubled every six months. Picture postcard sales accounted for more than 75 percent of all postcard sales in the United States. Post office figures indicate that in fiscal year 1908, some 6.77 million postcards were mailed in the U.S.
The years leading up to World War I, however, saw a decline in the quality of cards that were printed abroad, mostly in Germany. Inferior inks and coloring adversely affected the sale of picture postcards, and sales fell off the charts.
The outbreak of war, influenza epidemics and poor quality had driven postcard sales to the brink. The advent of the telephone, as well as the ease of acquiring transportation, spelled doom for the postcard industry, both as a communication medium and as a hobby. The golden age of postcards had come to a close.
Some card publishers such as Fred Harvey, Curt Teich and, locally, Max Bernstein (whose cards were printed by Teich) remained and continued to manufacture postcards through the Linen era, through the advent of the modern photo-chrome cards published today.
All of us here at the Northeast News wish you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year.
Michael Bushnell
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