| Collection |
Postcard Collection |
| Description |
PICTURE POSTCARDS OF FRAMINGHAM
By Bob Santone - Revised 28 September 2011
A HISTORY OF POSTCARDS IN GENERAL
In 1861, John P. Charlton of Philadelphia first devised the private "postcard." He was issued a copyright and shortly thereafter, transferred it to a fellow townsman, H. L. Lipman. These early cards marked "Lipman's Postal card, patent applied for", were privately printed, requiring a one cent stamp to be affixed and were sold until the first government one cent "postal card" appeared in 1873. The earliest known usage was October 25, 1870. After 1873 they required the application of a 2-cent postage stamp, the same as a first class letter. They contained mostly views and advertising with the back side for the address and stamp only. This period, up until 1898, became the "Pioneer Era" of postcards.
The "Postal Card" is sometimes confused with a "postcard." Two Germans, Heinrich von Stephen and Dr. Emmanuel Hermann invented postal cards independently in 1865 to promote correspondence by requiring a lower postal rate. They differed from a postcard in that postal cards are printed and sold by the government post office and contain an imprinted stamp that was half the first class letter rate. They were first issued in Austria on October 1, 1869. Postal cards were approved by the U.S. Congress on June 8, 1872, and started use on May 13, 1873. The front side was blank to be used for a written message or the printing of a business advertisement with the back side for the address only.
The era of postcards as we think of them, the "penny postcard" / "picture postcard", did not start until May 19, 1898 when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act. On that date Congress authorized the United States Post Office to accept, after July 1, a card with a message or picture on the front side, and only the mailing address and a one cent stamp attached on the back. The words "Private Mailing Card - Authorized by Act of Congress, May 19, 1898" were required to be printed on the address side of the card. On December 24, 1901, restrictions were relaxed; the words "Post Card" were authorized for the first time and the cards became the English standard size of 3 ˝ by 5 ˝ inches. Many cards also bore the line "This Side for Address Only" to make it clear that any message written on the address side would require two cents postage. On January 1, 1907 the restrictions were relaxed further and the back of the card was divided to provide a space for the "Sender's Name and Address Only". Then, just two months later on March 1, that space became the space for a message so the images on the front would no longer be sullied with scrawl. On most cards of this period, the picture on the front side went to the edges of the card with a marginal area along one side or at the bottom for a note, especially if the back was undivided.
The period from 1898 up until World War I (as late as 1918) is known as the "Golden Era" of postcards. Starting about 1905, picture postcards became very popular and were published extensively for collectors. By 1907, European publishers accounted for over 75% of all postcards sold in the United States. In 1908, there were over seven postcards mailed for every man, woman and child in the country. The official figures from the U.S. Post Office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908 cite 677,777,798 postcards mailed at a time when our population was 88,700,000. The telephone was not yet commonplace and postcards soon became the primary means of casual communication, often delivered later the same day or the very next day. They were the almost-instant messages of their time. Back then, letter carriers made up to seven deliveries a day in big cities like New York. Correspondents asked about health, made dinner plans, and pursued sweethearts. The era peaked in 1912 but the craze quickly faded. It began to wind down around 1915 and was virtually dead by World War I. The postcards of this era were predominately printed in Germany and Austria with high quality chromolithograph printing where they had the stone required for the process. If the era had not faded, the war would certainly have brought it to a close. The number of postcards produced in that era greatly exceeds all the postcards produced since then. The large number of postcards preserved by collectors has accounted for the survival of so many unused postcards of that era.
In 1915 the white border was introduced saving on the ink to print a card while making it easier to separate the cards that were printed in larger sheets. The "White Border Era" runs from 1915 until about 1930, although some borderless cards were produced as late as 1920.
After the war, tariff-protected, domestically printed postcards did not match the high quality of European imports of the Golden Era and diminished the interest of collectors. A more extensive and reliable telephone service and the introduction of folded greeting cards in envelopes also contributed to the loss of interest in postcards.
In 1930 a new process allowed the printing on cards with a high rag content, creating a linen-like finish. These cards also allowed the use of vivid dyes for coloring and were less expensive to produce. This is called the "Linen Era" of postcards and runs from 1930 to 1945. In 1939, the "Chrome Era" began, taking its name from Kodak's Kodachrome film. Views again went to the edges of the card and titles and descriptions were most often printed on the back. These cards were easily produced, of high photo quality and most importantly, they were in color.
One other era of postcards has to be mentioned, the "Real Photo Era" postcards. These are postcards printed on photographic paper from negatives often taken by private parties. About 1906, Eastman Kodak produced an affordable "Folding Pocket Kodak" camera. One could take a picture of their family or home and have it printed on stiff photographic paper with a postcard like back to send through the mail. Other Kodak models followed encouraging the Real Photo era. Their negatives were postcard size resulting in very clear, sharp, contact printed images. The quantities printed were usually very limited while the number of subjects was vast. However, some had runs of 1000s produced on various types of rotary drum, negative printers. Some had a title and the town name written on the negative in black ink that would be white on the print. But others had nothing to identify them except the written message and postal cancellation on the back, if that could be trusted. Many contain views of historic interest and are highly valued.
Over the years postcard rates have risen from one cent to 29 cents in 2011 and the standard postcard size has grown to 4 by 6 inches. Today they are often the fulfillment of the pledge, "I'll send you a postcard", given by those going on a vacation. In 2007, Americans sent over two billion postcards.
The study of postcards is called deltiology and the one who studies them is a deltiologist.
FRAMINGHAM POSTCARDS
During the Golden Era I understand there were only two professional photographers in Framingham; George W. Cokell and Arthur C. Phipps, but I am sure there were amateurs who took pictures as well. A few publishers in town, those that issued postcards for sale, would select black and white photographs and send them off to a printer to have them made into colorful postcards and have them printed buy the thousands. Based upon the postcards in my collection of which about 55 percent were posted and where the publisher / printer is known, there were at least fifteen Framingham publishers, only a few of whom published more than a handful of postcards as far back as 1905.
One the first of those who published postcards was Clifford Folger, a Nantucket native whose dry goods store in the Nobscot Block had become the largest department store between Boston and Worcester. In 1895 he became the first president of the Framingham Board of Trade to encourage new businesses into the area. Another was Frederick B. Horne, an apothecary in Framingham. A third was Charles L. Curtis, a pharmacist in the Eames Block in South Framingham. However, the largest Framingham publisher of postcards was Jacob F. Eber, a bookseller and stationer who had his offices in the Nobscot Block. Born in Germany in 1857, he came to the United States at the age of 15, married, had four daughters and settled in Framingham. He published at least 210 postcards, over six times the number of postcards as all the other Framingham publishers of the Golden Era combined.
In the beginning the publishers would select the printer for their postcards and Jacob Eber chose to have his postcards printed in Germany by the chromolithography printing process which resulted in beautiful cards. In later years, printers in Boston, New York, Chicago and other cities, bypassed the publishers and vended postcards on their own so we see fewer Framingham publishers after the Golden Era. There was the Clarence L. Bates & George A. Holdsworth Co., the William J. Sanborn Co., and Fitts Photo Shops who printed and published their own Real Photo Post Cards. There was one other postcard photographer / publisher I have only been able to identify by his cursive writing in white on his RPPC's. He used a unique lettering style in writing the "F" of Framingham, and rounded "M" of Mass. He printed over 58 postcards of Framingham from about 1912 to 1924, and many others of the surrounding towns some of which were later printed in color.
THE MAKING OF POSTCARDS
It is interesting to note just how postcards are made. I admittedly, have not properly researched the process but have drawn the following conclusions. Most postcards start off with a photograph. As color photography did not exist in the time if the early postcards, color was added by the printer. He often had to assume a color if not told just what color to use. Green for grass and trees, blue for the sky, and dark brown for roadways and tree trunks, were easy to guess at. But the color of the bricks used in a building or the color of houses often varied. The many Union Avenue Framingham High School postcards have different colors for the bricks. The publisher often had a color chart of the colors the printer had to choose from and he would select the colors to be used for the objects in the postcard.
Early postcards were printed in Europe by chromolithography. Later the half tone, four color (cmyk = cyan, magenta, yellow and the key color which was black) printing process was used. These were most often applied on to a white card providing a fifth color to work with. Sometimes the first color was applied by chromolithography and the subsequent colors by half tone printing. Under magnification, one can see the uneven grain of a lithograph for one color and the graduated dots of a half tone for the other colors. The half tone process accounts for the moiré pattern that often appears when a postcard is scanned for a digital copy.
Publishers and printers also took liberties to enhance the views. Where there were no clouds in the sky, they added some. They had a few favorites as I have seen the same cloud pattern used on a number of different postcards. Were there were telephone poles that detracted from the view, they removed them. And where there were no cars on the roads they added them.
I have also noticed that at least some postcards are "laminated". That is, they are made of three layers of paper. I found this out when a few of my postcards unfortunately started to de-laminate. Apparently, (and I am assuming this) the view is printed on one layer of paper and the back on another. Then the two with a little heavier, less expensive paper between them are laminated together to produce the stiffer card. This would allow the printing to be on a thinner more flexible paper that can go through printer rollers. The printing of the view layer could be done at one location and the assembly at another. It would also allow the use of better quality paper for the printing of the color view and lesser quality papers for the back and filler layers. However, this would also require the registration of the front view with the back layer. I have seen some postcards where the two are offset.
On early postcards the view went to the edge of the card. Printed in larger sheets they were then cut apart. If not carefully done, a thin edge of the view on one card would appear on the next, which I have seen. With the advent if the white border, room-for-error was provided and this problem was eliminated. Post cards were generally printed in large sheets of 66 or so cards with every card on the sheet a different one. This allowed them to have printing runs of 5000. If the cards on a sheet were all the same, the print run would only be 76 to make 5000 cards. Longer runs requiring fewer setups and knock downs would make the cards less costly to produce.
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| Object ID |
10.26.11 |
| Object Name |
postcard |
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