The Golden Age of Post Cards  Along with commissioned portraits, photographers found a ready market for locally made postcards. IN the first years of the 20th century local photographers produced hundred of varieties featuring sites of interest in the community. Recent settlers could send a photo of their new town back to relatives in the East. Thankfully many of these have survived.  A photo such as this would showcase the home town.  Sometimes they couldn’t resist placing a comment on the photo.  The combination of the record of correspondence and the photographic record makes a postcard collection twice as valuable and increase the chances that both elements survive. A look through a Post Card collections will remind one that even resident of seemingly remote small village were connected to the world. The following image was on the reverse side of the previous photo.  Businesses could use the custom made postcards as promotional items.   An easy way to keep in touch with the flock.  And the photographer could put in a bit of promotion for his business. Of course Postcards have survived, and continue to be sold and used primarily as souvenirs. We have Facebook and Instagram etc. for a minute the obligatory by minute account of our travels. But in those early days of travel correspondence they were a much more integral part of everyday communication, inexpensive, easy to use, and as, noted, sent with a sense of pride about the new town the recent settler had chosen.  The post card idea is here taken to a new level - six photos promoting s toen and a business. View...
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