Postcards Preserve History
Joan Broz in an interview with Susan Brown Nicholson that appears on Chicago's Daily Herald website points out, "Postcards became popular at the beginning of the 20th century and were collected right from the start. They offered a wide diversity at a reasonable cost."
She goes on to say,"In the early 1900s, Eastman Kodak introduced a Folding Pocket Kodak designed so the general public could use its postcard-size film to take photographs and have them printed on postcard backs. Real Photo postcards, such as the Lisle street scenes, enabled people to make a postcard of any picture they took.
"At first, postcards could have only writing in the front and the address and stamp on the back. After 1907, postcards had an image on the front with a divided back, as we have today. Fold-out postcards, popular in the 1950s, were a series of postcards attached into a strip."
Nicholson is quoted as saying,“Postcards have always been an advertising tool and still are today. The 1907 versions are not considered ‘junk mail’ but collectibles.”
According to the article, subject matter, condition, desirability and demand all determine a postcard’s value.
Shown above, the front cover of Advertising Postcards by Robert W. Reed and Claudette Reed.
To read the entire piece, click here.
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