Historical
finds in our midst: the postcard
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[February 27, 2017]
LINCOLN - When we
think of archaeology, what comes to
mind? Well, there is always the
professor digging at a historic site
in the blazing sun looking for the
remnants of a lost civilization.
That’s one example, but there are
other examples of historical
excavations much closer to home.
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The
Logan County Genealogical &
Historical Society displayed the
bits of family archeology that may
have come from the contents of a
forgotten box in the attic. At the
LCG&S February monthly meeting,
three large boxes of old postcards
from the early twentieth century
were on display.
The postcards were donated to the
Society by a local family, and tell
of a rich family history just as
surely as a dig at some far off
ancient civilization. They also tell
a story about what America was like
when they were originally sent.
Postcards are a relatively recent
way of sending greetings to friends
and family. They originated in the
nineteenth century, but in a form
that was different from the
traditional postcard from a vacation
spot.
Early postcards were mostly sent
to commemorate holidays and special
occasions. Today, people go to a
store and buy a fancy card to
celebrate a birthday or Christmas or
Easter. In earlier times, these
special occasions were celebrated by
sending what was known as a penny
postcard. The penny referred to the
postage that was charged to mail the
postcards.
The first postcards were found in
the United States around 1873, and
seventy percent of them were
manufactured in Germany. The Postal
Service kept the price of a stamp to
mail a postcard at one cent for
decades. It was increased to two
cents in 1918 then dropped back to
one cent shortly thereafter. It was
only increased to three cents in
1958.
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Picture postcards
with a photo format sent to
celebrate a vacation spot were
produced much later.
The LCGHS has early postcards that
show scenes from Emden and Atlanta.
The collection also includes
historical postcards with scenes
from important sites all over
Lincoln. This type of card is
difficult to find these days. Sure,
when you travel to the big city or
important tourist sites, postcards
abound. But to find one that
celebrates a tiny town and local
businesses is nearly non-existent
today.
Al and Doreta Hassebrock stopped by
the meeting to show off their own
family postcard collection. The
oldest card in their collection is
from 1907.
The Logan County Genealogical and
Historical Society meets the third
Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
There is always an interesting
presentation, and the public is
invited to attend.
[Curtis Fox]
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