Stories of the Past / of the Post...

More postcards! Yay! My sister came down for lunch on Sunday and treated us to a delicious (but deathly slow) lunch at Ned's in Manitou Springs. I had the homemade turkey sausage with jalepenos and my lips burned for a good half hour. Still, my stomach (which needed filling after a night on the town with Moll) was happy. Picked up a few retro--but new--cards at Ned's counter next to the purses made of Kool-Aid packages and the Last Supper lunch boxes.






My whole soul tingled with pleasure after lunch when sis and I drug The Boyfriend to a couple of the cutesy-wootsie, artsy-fartsie shops in the area, where I picked up a few new, but old postcards to add to my collection. (You can see other posts regarding my cards here and here and here.)


Unlike the cute but new-fab cards above, the rest I bought were all antique. Therefore, they have a lot more color, history and personality. Take for instance this one:

By Hickory! I do believe you're right! The "night and day" bank and 24-hour restaurant in the background truly make this town the "big city." The reverse side:


This reads, "At Exclusion Spring near Kansas City. Every body busy drinking, feeling fine. Joane." The postmark is May 23, 1914. I'm thinking someone had a hangover on May 24th.

Speaking of which, I got a great (sadly unsent) card that I guess is supposed to be carried by a drunkard during his night on the town. It is most likely an ad for this "Bucket of Blood Saloon" in Virginia City, Nevada:

The small print at the bottom says, "My name is ______. Residence ________. (Keep this out of the papers and tell my sife it was stomach trouble)" I think I could have used something like this on Saturday night!

On an entirely different note is this somber card, sent from Fort Dodge, Iowa on Feb 24, 1910:

Hmmm. Quite pious, yes? And also very grudging about that duty thing--like it has a "do i have to?" tone to it. The interior supports this notion.

It reads (punctuation added):

"Well how is your cold? By this time I hope it is better. I haven't heard from Iwen (?) since so I guess he isn't coming so I won't come home this week but will try to come next week. I am all through with my exams but have not my grades yet. Biddy"

It looks like Biddy was at school, away from her folks and--hey--good for her considering it was 1910 and all. As for Iwen (?), is he a brother, cousin, a beau? I prefer to think the latter. It's the romantic in me. The handsome boy was also at school and couldn't get back to their hometown of Laurens and so she decided not to come as well. Then again, her mama had a cold and she still didn't come. Maybe she was off drinking too. Seems to be a theme around here. Hmm.

I love these cards. They are similar to e-mail, really. Not formal or long like a traditional letter, nor as attentive to detail or spelling. You just send them off for quick messages and such. (No phones, after all.) But unlike email, they are more than just words. The images too are meaningful. They can be fitting, telling, ironic, funny, disrespectful, tongue-in-cheek, pious... Will naturally catch you all up on the next occasion I collect a few...