THANKSGIVING POSTCARDS

Before folded greeting cards were produced, Americans sent Thanksgiving postcards to friends and family. These are often rich in humor and illustrate the traditions of this holiday. They often are patriotic including Uncle Sam and other national symbols as part of the theme.

The date of the modern American observance of Thanksgiving can be traced back to Abraham Lincoln's proclamation during the middle of the Civil War, setting the date on the final Thursday in the month of November. His successors continued the custom by presidential proclamation until Franklin Roosevelt broke with tradition during the Depression by declaring the fourth Thursday in November as the national celebration in effort to boost retail sales during the Christmas season. He hoped the increased spending would bring the country out the Depression. In 1941 President Roosevelt signed a bill making the national celebration of this holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.

Today's customs loosely follow the celebration meal in 1621 held by the Wampanoag Tribe of American Indians and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth MA. The traditional Thanksgiving dinner features turkey, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, corn and other fall vegetables and pumpkin pie.

Even before the advent of television, football has played a large part of the tradition in many families. Since its inception, the National Football league has played a game on Thanksgiving day. Colleges and universities and high schools traditionally scheduled rivalry games. Macy's Department store holds an annual Thanksgiving Day parade on the upper west side of New York City to the flagship store on Herald Square.

However Americans celebrate the holiday it is seen as a homecoming or coming together to enjoy the fruits of the abundant harvest usually preceded by a prayer of thanksgiving.

I am sharing some of the postcards I have listed - you can find some of them in my eBay store here: Moody Mommy's Thanksgiving Postcards  .

Cowgirl Postcards

When I was a little girl I had a red cowboy shirt with white stitching and shiny black cowboy boots. My room had cowboy wallpaper. I had a holster and a toy revolver. I was convinced that I would grow up to be a cowgirl!


Cowgirls captured the imagination of postcard publishers as well. The rules of decorum which applied to contemporary women in more "civilized" parts did not seem to apply to these strong, feisty women of the golden west.

I will show some of my favorite postcards here. I don't have many listed now but every once in awhile I run across a collection and list them on eBay. They are very sought after. I guess I am not the only woman who fancied herself a cowgirl at one time!

My eBay cowgirl listings can be found here: Cowgirl Postcard

This is a real photo postcard of a REAL cowgirl:

Here is an idealized beauty of a cowgirl by artist W Haskell Coffin from 1908:


And another beauty by Boileau:

I imagine they looked more like this:

Or this ...

I am certain they didn't look like this sexy version (must have been very risque circa 1910!):

At any rate, they were great shots as shown by these cards:

And nimble with the lasso:

And sought after by many a cowboy!

Well that's it for today. Happy Trails to you!

VINTAGE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN POSTCARDS

I have always been interested in Native American postcards. Perhaps it is because my grandmother, Grace Poole Steinberg, was an amateur Indian historian. She even was made an honorary member of the Omaha tribe for her work in preserving the grave of Big Elk in the 1950's.

Some of the earlier postcards (circa 1900) were published near the time of the last of the Indian Wars (1898 Leech Lake Minnesota Battle of Sugar Point and 1918 Battle of Bear Valley in Southern Arizona). Postcards from that era often featured great warriors, scouts and leaders.

This postcard shows Sioux Indian Chief Iron Hail, a survivor of Wounded Knee. Listed on ebay here

Here is a group of Chiefs from British Columbia (listed on ebay here)

And a group of Sioux Chiefs (listed on eBay here)

Sometimes the older postcards showed women and babies. This one of "Bright Eyes" is lovely (eBay listing)
This 1908 postcard shows the plight of some older Puget Sound Siwash members in Seattle WA (found here in my eBay listing):

Many of the postcards that we "think" depict everyday life might indeed be "staged" for the tourist trade. Fred Harvey was famous for promoting the American Southwest and owned a chain of restaurants and hotels. He also published postcards.

"Harvey is also known for pioneering the art of commercial cultural tourism. His "Indian Detours" were meant to provide an authentic Native American experience by having actors stage a certain lifestyle in the desert in order to sell tickets to unwitting tourists.^[4] Fred Harvey's feats of marketing did not stop at the attraction either, as for tour guides he used attractive women in outfits becoming their figures. " Wikipedia

I guess we must appreciate those postcards for what they were. Many, particularly those published by the Detroit Publishing Company for Fred Harvey are very beautiful.

Here are some women displaying their handcrafts: (eBay listing)

Here is a Chimayo Rug weaver at his loom (eBay listing)

A third "genre" of Native American Postcards are the "comic" postcards of the 1940's and 1950's demonstrating prejudice or derogatory comments. These may be of some cultural interest (not Native American culture but the American culture in general at that time). I don't collect these postcards and don't have any to show here.

My Native American postcard listings can be found in my eBay store here: Moody Mommy's Marvelous Postcard Store - Native American

RPPC REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

I guess my favorite postcards are the photo postcards circa 1910 of women and children. Sadly, these are often not identified. They give us a litle insight into how life was at that time through the vintage clothing and the subjects' demeanor. Somehow I feel I understand my grandmothers (one was born in 1890 and the other in 1901) a little better by enjoying pictures of their contemporaries.

I love this unidentified postcard of a woman pouring a drink of beer in her kitchen!


Sometimes the postcards are formal studio photographs, such as this one of three women from Duluth MN dressed for the cold Minnesota winters.

This postcard is listed in my eBay store here: RPPC POSTCARD WOMEN IN FURS GREAT HATS DULUTH MN

Sometimes a relative or friend captures a photograph in a natural setting like this one:

On eBay:RPPC POSTCARD CHILDREN WITH CALF COW WI WISCONSIN 1909

I think the girl on the right looks like Pippi Longstocking
On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD GIRL FRIENDS ON FRONT STOOP CIRCA 1920

This little boy looks like Tom Sawyer!On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD LITTLE BOY IN SHORT PANTS TOM SAWYER HAT

How about these two little sweet babies?
On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD MARGERY & GALE FOX - CHILDREN GREAT HATS

This photograph of an old woman identified as being 80 years old (born around 1830) is intriguing!On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD OLD WOMAN IN CHAIR AUNT DANIEL 80 YRS OLD

This photograph lets us see the plight of itinerant farm workers - lots of people living in those bunk houses - probably without running water and electricity!

On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD FARM WORKER FAMILIES @ BUNKHOUSE c 1910

Living in Minnesota, many of the subjects of the postcards I find are of Scandinavian descent - lots of blonde children. These little girls are especially adorable - take note of their shoes!

On eBay: RPPC POSTCARD BLONDE LITTLE GIRLS IN WHITE W/ FLOWERS

I could go on and on but this is enough for today - I will followup another time with more great postcards. I currently have over 200 similar real photo postcards of people listed on eBay - check them out here: Moody Mommy's Real Photo Postcards RPPC of Women, Children, Men, Babies, Families

Blogger, Facebook, Twitter ...

How is a person supposed to do all of this social networking, live a quasi-normal life AND run a thriving business? I don't know but I will say that tweeting and facebooking have been my occupations of late. I am not sure any of this makes a bit of difference - am I networking in blank cyberspace? Is anyone really interested in what I have to say? I decided to forge ahead anyway - I have a few Twitter followers but I think most of them are just trying to sell ME stuff like "how to sell on ebay" guides etc..or porn. I don't even know how you are supposed to get people to be a fan of your Facebook page short of paying for advertising (not in the budget)! The facebook page is really pretty with all the postcard images and one of my best friends is a fan (the rest of my family and friends evidently decided not to sign on and who could blame them if postcards aren't your thing?)

So to all of you who have stumbled upon this blog I will make this offer: Follow me on Twitter, Become My Facebook Fan or Follow this Blog and you can buy one postcard and get another postcard FREE (choose from any of my Buy-it-Now eBay listings priced at $10 or less). Just send me a message through eBay to let me know who you are, that you are a follower and the item number of your free postcard (don't Buy-It-Now or I will have to pay fees). One per customer - offer good until canceled.

Here I am on facebook: Moody Mommy's Marvelous Postcards Page
Here is my Twitter ID : MoodyMommysPCs
Here is my Blog: Moody Mommmy's Marvelous Postcards Blog

Merry Widow Hat Postcards

Franz Lehar's 1905 operetta "The Merry Widow" lent its name to the newest fashion in ladies' hats during the Edwardian period. These hats were often outrageously sized, wide brimmed and decorated with expensive feathers and flowers.

In 1908 J Grollman produced a series of Merry Widow Hat postcards poking fun at this fashion. I listed one of my favorites on eBay this week:

"VINTAGE MERRY WIDOW HAT POSTCARD LADY ON COFFIN 1908"

Here are a few of the others in this 16 card series:






  Update February 2011: 
I have found a few other Grollman Merry Widow Hat postcards to add

 

Back to work - or perhaps not since the day is glorious and all work and no play....

TTFN
Moody Mommy

You can find my Merry Widow Hat postcard listings in my eBay store here: Moody Mommy's Merry Widow Hat Postcard Listings

Back to work

It's been awhile since I've posted. We have had a family emergency and I had to take an unscheduled break from my eBay business. It always takes me so long after a break to get things rolling again - I have been busy with a backlog of shipping and listing.

I attended the Twin City Postcard Club Spring show last week and found some great cards! I am excited about listing them - just wish there were more hours in the day!

I listed several fun ones last week. Perhaps my favorite is this one of the Grizzly Bear Rug Display at the Holt Reinhart Department Store in Montreal QC. I wonder if they still have this department? It can be found on ebay here GRIZZLY BEAR RUGS HOLT RENFREW DEPT STORE QUEBEC QC POSTCARD :
I started to list a postcard of men scaling a wall of marble at a quarry in Carrara Italy when I became curious about the name of the recipient (the message referred to drawings for a Virgins Chapel). A Google search revealed that the recipient was Emmanuel Masquery, a noted architect at the turn of the century. He spent the last years of his life in St Paul and designed the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St Paul and the Basilica in Minneapolis. Cool! It can be found here:
CARRARA MARBLE QUARRY ITALY POSTCARD TO EL MASQUERAY.


I'd best get back to work now - more later.

TTFN

Mary Ann