For Easter, I decided to go hunting for Easter cards in my great-aunt Gerda's postcard album from her years in America (c. 1903-1910). (All the cards in that album are Christmas, New Year, Easter and Birthday cards etc.)
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| Left: At Easter 1902, Gerda was still living with one of her sisters in Sweden. Right: At Easter 1903, she had emigrated to Chicago. (Probably in late autumn 1902.) |
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| Left: Although obviously an Easter card, this card was sent in October 1907 (to Gerda in Chicago, from a Swedish friend living in Rockford, also in Illinois). Right: Easter Greetings 1908, from the same friend. |
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| Left: Easter Greetings 1908 from Gerda's brother Gustaf, living in Galeton, Pennsylvania. Right: Easter Greetings 1908 from a friend in Chicago. |
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| Easter Greetings 1910 to Gerda in Chicago, from a niece in Sweden. |
In my "Swenglish" family history blog Greetings from the Past (recently revived again after a rather long slumber) I explore these and other old postcards in more detail, as part of the family history puzzle - especially the lives of my paternal grandmother's older half-siblings, as they are the main recipients and senders of the early postcards.
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Linking to Sepia Saturday 564
(even if my "link" to the prompt picture this time is rather weak)
15 comments:
these are perfect for Sepia Saturday and today Easter. i am so glad you showed us these Easter cards. i tried to pick a favorite but all of them are wonderful...
I love old postcard and never thought to post them on my blog. I may have to change that, thanks for the inspiration and Happy Easter to you and yours.
The old postcards for special holidays and occasions are so quaint and lovely. They are some of my favorites and you have shown us a neat selection of them here. Happy Easter! :)
Glad to see how much you are reaping the benefits of these historical reminder she kept!
All wonderful cards. The little girl on left in the second set is playing a bowed psaltery, a folk instrument that is not common to see in cards like these. The illustrators used lots of symbolism that has been been forgotten in our century. My grandmothers saved similar postcards from the same era with greetings for Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. which I still have. I think it was a way for aunts, uncles, and cousins to keep in touch.
I love these old post cards. Pity we no longer have them. People don't communicate very much socially by writing and sending letters and cards. I have a collection of very old ones from my great aunts - very elaborate - but the writing is all in German and I cannot read it. They seemed to send them to friends very often.
Thanks Sandra. I agree, they're all special!
Thanks for stopping by Inger, and I'm glad you found it inspiring :)
Thanks La N, and Happy Easter to you, too!
Ginny, the old postcard albums are indeed a treasure - even if the stamps have been removed from most of the cards (I'm not sure by whom!)
Thanks Mike, I was wondering what that instrument was called! Postcards were indeed a way for both family and friends to keep in touch back then.
Liz, back in the early 1900s, postcards seem to have been used much like we use email or text messages today :) I know that here in Sweden, mail used to be sorted aboard the trains, in a special carriage; and between some places one could send a card in the morning and receive a reply in the afternoon. (And judging by postmarks on some of the American cards in my collection, mail between Chicago, Ill. and Galeton, Pa, did not take more than a day either.)
A fascinating little glimpse of the past, and how different designs and symbols went in and out of fashion ober decades and centuries. I think it is wonderful that you have kept the postcard album!
Meike, I also have a postcard album from Gerda's brother Gustaf, who was also in America during the same years. His collection is bigger and has view cards as well, and continues into the 1930s. On my 'Greetings from the Past' blog I have an ongoing, but very much intermittent (sometimes years in between!) project of exploring those more systematically. Not sure I'll ever get the project finished, but never mind... Anyway, this Easter weekend seemed a good time to take a plunge into time-travelling by postcard again, so that's what I've been doing!
I particularly like the first two and the last postcards. I have developed a real enjoyment of old 'cartoon' figures.
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