Postcard from Robert to Mrs. P.
Click here to view it larger.
Click here to view the back.
What it is:
Real photo post card measuring slightly less than 3.5 x 5.5 inches.
What I know about it:
Photographer is The Kregel Studios of St. Paul, Minnesota. [The Minnesota Historical Society’s website says the photographer’s name was Clayton Kregel.] Written on the front is Hello Mrs P. I got a new horn [?] and I send my love Robt. Written on the back is Hello Purd. This is a picture I had taken in St. Paul when mama & Mrs G. and I were on a lark. Postcard is addressed to Mr. Purd Phelps of Pierre, South Dakota. Postcard is postmarked September 13, 1909, in Elmore, Minnesota.
Comments:
This postcard has almost everything. There’s the adorable picture that got printed up as a postcard. There’s the photographer’s information stamped on the back. There’s the handwritten message front and back. There’s addressee information (showing that all you needed was a name and city for a small town in 1909). And finally there’s a legible postmark. The only thing missing is the stamp, which either was removed by a collector, or simply fell off in the intervening century. But since the stamp is missing, you can see what I’m referring to when I talk about dating a postcard using the paper manufacturer’s markings. In this case AZO with the four corner triangles pointing up indicates it’s from 1904-1918, but the postmark dates it even more precisely. One of my regular readers is Mrs. P (whose own blog is here), and I thought she might get a kick out of this.
Pics of Then 
Time to consider offering an exhibition, perhaps? You have an impressive collection of Americana.
Thanks, Alessandro! What a nice thing to say. But I consider my blog to my exhibition. So many people have much grander collections than I do. But I’m glad to be able to use this venue to share mine and let other people enjoy it.
Wonderful item, Matt!
Thank you, Katherine!
Or could it be a new “horse”? A child with some association to the Dakotas might have been involved with horses at an early age. He looks old enough to have a “first horse”.
That’s a good idea, too.