Are You Glad Cryptic Message Postcard Talk

Postcard Talk by Mary Katherine May

Undivided Back Postcard
Double Stamped
Poughkeepsie N.Y. July 26th, 1906, 3__ A.M.
Mount Vernon N.Y. July 27th, 1906, 7 A.M.

In spite of the minor edge wear and tear, this is a great postcard. The front shows a Hudson River Day Line ship, the address side has  a great Hudson River Day Line logo.  Double stamped posted marks, two flag killers--one looks to be in reverse of the other!

Addressed to a Miss Helen M. Palmer, 145 Cottage Ave., Mount Verson N.Y. 

July 26-1906
Dear Helen:--
Are you glad you are living this morning?
Aunt E.J.D.

The message, however, is completely cryptic, almost begging for someone to write a story.  What does it mean?  What happened to Helen previous day that caused Auntie to send a postcard note to her niece at 3 A.M.???  Was she in an accident?  Was she ill?  Did she meet the man she would marry?  Did our Helen try to harm herself?   Does the ship have significance or was it only a postcard Auntie had available? 

How did this 100+ year old postcard end up in Minnesota?  I did buy this postcard at a stamp show this summer, and I believe that there was one dealer there from New York.  Hmmm.........

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

1937 Bjork Letter PostCard Talk

PostCard Talk

Presented by Mary Katherine May
of QualityMusicandBooks.com

The second letter I present here before returning to postcards originated in Sweden.  I found it in an old Bible that came to me along with a few other books.  In another instance, in a group of books given to me by a friend, I found a letter from her deceased husband--which, of course, I returned to her.  For this reason, I recommend when asked to either purchase or accept books my recommendation that people leaf through them before showing them to me.

This letter was written in 1937, with all but a few lines the Swedish language.  We might assume reasonably that the recipient was located in the United States of America since here is where the Bible is located, in the state of Minnesota.  Unfortunately, because of my lack of Swedish language knowledge, my translation performed through Google Translate is at the worst extremely rough and at best somewhat close to what is literally present.

There is a sadness here for the separation that appears to have been complete for quite some time.  The author may have been in mourning or been in a depression, but still the writing implies a loneliness and sorrow over the fact that family communication is broken.  The recipient is not a distant relative, but an uncle.  There are separations among family members which occur that are not of our own choosing, and learning how to deal with them can be stressful and long time process.

The last line of the letter, written in broken English, really sums up the tone of the letter. I never will forget your girl and all of your other children.

Sollerön March 15 1937

Dear Uncle and Relatives….!

It is now a long time since we heard anything from me, maybe even a long time since you heard anything from that place where you have grown up and lived until your young sentencing days. I probably would have written for, but it's so hard not to believe that you are forgotten by us here on the island though it nests so watch out, after which I have not written to you in such a long time. Here it is now, as in other basins, new genera come to, and the old shall, mulling, down behind were old church, where we all a bunch of locals will end up. So I receive hereby tell of for you, that your sister, my mother,  now in these days have stopped his lifetime, So I may conclude with these simple rows announce you the sad nyket [news?], even is my father very sick, so we believe that even can die when sooner, the better. They have lived the sum man over 71 years, mother would turn 92 years on March 17,  mother ended their March 11, 1937.  Peace to her memory.

My father in law, parents, and so live still further, my father in law of Daniel Marten Jönsson has filled its 90 years, even my mother in law is on the 85th. But they, however, is healthy and well.

As you can see, you are now the only remaining of your Syrkon, for now, as I hope, these lines meet you in good health and cheerful mood, I do not know someone, address mi to Mrs. Annie Viberg, have not heard anything from them for years, so on you will be hard address, if you wanted to be nice and tell them that their aunt is now dead.

I will send your oll may bast gretings hops you soon wrieth to me.

I will send you all my best greetings.  Hope you will soon write to me.

I neaver forget your girl and your all oader cildrings.

I never [will] forget your girl and all [of] your other children.

Write once [soon?]

P. Bjork
Sollerön [Sweden]



What About Baudette Minnesota and Herding Goats in Norway Postcard Talk

From Leslie to Hulda Hilden

Orginal Postcard, enhanced.

 

Original Postcard without Enhancement

I began looking at this postcard, thinking I knew at least a few details, only to find that I knew even less of the little that I thought I did know!  After closer examination with 10X magnification under better light, I discovered that the photograph, at least revealed a little more upon which to speculate.

The postmark that I had assumed was for Thief River Falls, Minnesota, it turns out is not.  The word THIEF is there, but there is no river or falls.  A closer look also reveals tht the faint letters on the right outside circle of the postmark can in no way spell out Minnesota; or, as it would have been in the year this card was mailed,  MINN.  Clearly readable, again, is the word, THIEF, AUG 7, and EAST. Beneath that, is possibly M.P.C., and at the top might be the year--1911? 

So much for that.  The stamp is a one cent Franklin. And it is addressed to Miss Hulda Hilden in Beaudette, Minnesota, from Leslie--who may have been her brother.  More specifically, the brief note suggests a good relationship with plenty of camaraderie and joking.  The joke on this postcard would take inside knowledge to decipher the hidden meaning.

Well here is the mail man you were waiting for but I hope I haven't keep you waiting all this time with the same kind of  a costume on the the girl on the card you sent me had.

Leslie

Evidently Hulda had sent him a jokester-type card?  I wonder what the postcard looked like that Hulda had sent to Leslie--is this her brother?

I just heard that your old pal Ole was herding goats in Norway and that he had 2 new hairs.

It seems that Ole at least, maybe without Lena, was the brunt of jokes early in the 20th century!

Well...on with the discovery!

The photograph is hard to decipher for the soil and darkening with age, and also as it is a large area that was included, everything is smaller and less distinct.  Unfortunate in this case is that enlarging the picture makes determining details even more difficult.  My 10X power headgear and a good light did help some, however.  Though very small, a flag is visible atop the building in the background.  With a closer look it can be seen that there is another American flag in front of the building.

There are posts, but there appears to be no fence.  There are three groups of people, yet in none can it be discerned as to what is being looked at.  The closest men, on the left, have hats that look to be part of a military or official uniform.  That they have on neckties is not a defining detail, as in the era of the photo dress was much more formal for nearly all occasions.  At least one of these men is looking to his right.

Next is the group in the middle.  What are these people, both men and women, looking at?  It isn't what the others are viewing to their right or left, because they face the house with their backs turned toward the camera that took the photograph.  This middle cluster is looking toward the building.  They don't seem to be looking up, but across.

At the furthest distance, people group 3, maybe have some people sitting and some standing, or they might be seated on bleachers.  I don't know.  What they are looking at, perhaps a ball game? 

Please Allow me to summarize at this point what I don't know.

1. The postmark year.

2. The location of the sender.

3. The year of the stamp issue.

4. What the three groups of people are looking at.

5. What the Norwegian Ole joke means.

6. If Hulda and Leslie are related.

7. What M.P.C. means.

8. If some of the men in the photograph are wearing part of a uniform.

9. What kind of woman was on the postcard sent by Hulda to Leslie.

Yup.  You guessed it.  I don't know much.  I would appreciate viewer input.  Maybe my knowledge will increase. ...Mary Katherine May

Postcard Talk Windows to the Past Minnesota Early 1900s

Postcard Talk: Windows to the Past

Minnesota Early 1900s

Produced by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com

for The House United

complete credits at TheHouseUnited.blogspot.com

New Years Eve Postcard ELEVA WISCONSIN What Is in a Name?

Postcard Sent New Year's Eve, December 31, 1913

 New Year's Eve Postcard
by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Interesting enough is the colorful illustration on the cover. Interesting, too, is that Viola Johnson, to whom the postcard is addressed, along with her parents and siblings, can be identified with a fair amount of certainty.


from Eleva Wisconsin, December 31, 1913

To Viola Johnson, c/o Gust Johnson
RFD H1, Osseo Wis.
Dear Friend
I recd the card you Orlando sent to me sometime ago. I would like to come up there pretty soon. Did your ___ get that letter I sent to her. Happy new to all from Stella.

Violet Johnson
Violet Johnson, daughter of Gust and Martha Erickson Johnson, can be documented through a Wisconsin history website, History of Trempealeau County, 1917 (scroll down to Gust G. Johnson). Viola was one of seven or eight children, depending upon if you take the number of children the article cites, or count the children, which adds up to eight. Orlando, also noted in the postcard message, was a brother to Viola.



Most interesting, though, is how Eleva, Wisconsin, got it's name!



How New Chicago Wisconsin turned into Eleva Wisconsin

Eleva, Wisconsin, is located along the Buffalo River in Trempealeau County. The story of how the small town of Eleva, Wisconsin, got its name may make the reader smile. Originally named New Chicago by R.P. Goddard of Mondovi, the painters had not finished painting the letters on the new grain elevator when winter set in. When newcomers to the town saw ELEVA on the elevator, they assumed it was the name of the town. Eleva, with a population of less than one thousand, is still an active town.

Postcard Talk Morris Illinois 1903 McNeil Refugator Shot Himself Did a Clean Job

History Documented in Postcards from the Past

by Mary Katherine May
of www.QualityMusicAndBooks

This past weekend I was out perusing the antique stores in Anoka, Minnesota. Jam-packed to the point of usually allowing only one person being able to pass through an aisle at a time, there I stood examining postcards. It is absolutely true that it takes me much longer to go through old postcards than most collectors, because I am generally looking at the written message and postmark date first, and the image or photograph and condition second.

Originating in Morrison, ILL on September 2 at 9:30 AM,
I cannot be certain that the year was 1903.

The posted message I offer here today originated in Morrison, Illinois, on September 2nd, possibly in 1903. The last number is only a partial. Due to part of the back address on this undivided back postcard being partially scribbled out with pencil, I can glean only that the recipient was a woman (Miss), and that she lived at 839 North 2 St. West, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On the front, where the message on an undivided back postcard had to be written, we discover that Floyd was writing to his sister, though still no name.

The postcard itself would be interesting because it shows a large amount of lumber being floated down the Mississippi River. This is called a "log raft." The information about the actual postcard is as follows.

No 8. Log Raft on the Mississippi River, Clinton, Iowa.
C.D. Hurd, Publisher, Books and Stationery. Made in Germany.
(back) 84878; This Side Is for the Address.

The initial message, on the side of the front is fairly short.

Dear Sister--Mother received letter we are all well, hope you are the same. will answer your letter in a day or so. Floyd

What makes this particular postcard so exciting is the LATE BREAKING NEWS--almost like a new flash on television today.

McNeil Refugator(?) book keeper shot himself. did a clean job.

I am assuming that this happened in Morrison, IL, and that Floyd was adding something that his sister would want to know. We don't know if McNeil, who did a clean job, at the point of writing was alive or dead, and if alive whether or not he survived. What we do know is that it was important to both sender and receiver of this card.

PostCard Talk Blog Manda and Emanda by Mary Katherine May

Manda & Emanda
by Mary Katherine May
of Quality Music and Books

On today's post I would like to step back from postcards for a moment and look at this photograph. It came to me, if I recall correctly, in a box on which I bid at an auction several years ago.

As a matter of fact, that auction was rather funny. I was bidding on a box of wood blocks for our grandchildren, and won the bid for a small amount of money--$7.

In the back of the auction room was an area with an outside door where merchandise was picked up, and after I was through bidding for the day I went to pick up my box.

Box? How about SEVEN boxes? Boxes full of who-knows-what, but they were mine. A buck a piece. It was an adventure going through them, and some of it I threw out, while some "artifacts" (in my mind only) had a value that negated them being tossed out even though no one wanted the stuff, then or now, and it is still here at the house getting dusted every few months.

Here are Manda and Emanda, surname unknown. Location unknown. It does look like the condition of the grass and garden along the wall would place the photo in late spring or early fall, though without coats or jacket my conjecture is that it was a nice, warm day to take a picture. Manda and Emanda were neat and tidy--their yard has no leaves to be raked, at least in the spot where this snapshot was taken. The hose is hooked up to the outside spigot, so the outside water valve was open for the season.

Manda and Emanda were most likely sisters, maybe twins. They aren't smiling, but that doesn't mean that they weren't happy. There dresses look to be of the everyday variety, their hair not well done enough to be the weekly beauty parlor route--most likely pincurls. Judging from their long-stem roses, I also would speculate that they were born in the late 1800s or thereabouts, when foundation garments didn't maintain the "status quo" as they do today.

The house appears to be a rambler style, and those shingles! Remember how hard it was to paint those shingles? Now I am speaking about this from observation. In our house girls didn't paint shingles. We cleaned inside and washed and dried dishes, swept floors and the like. Outside work was for men.

That was the 1950s.

How about that? All from a snapshot.

PostCard Talk by Mary Katherine May Fern Brugger Austin MN

Posted by Mary Katherine Mayof Quality Music and Books

Chimney Rock
Dells of the Wisconsin River

Postmark
NOV 13 1913
8 AM
PLATTEVILLE, WIS

Published by
E. A. BISHOP PUB. RACINE, WIS
Made in U.S.A.

Postcards were often written with pencil rather than ink, and without being protected from contact with other papers and handling, the pencil markings begin to fade. This postcard is difficult to read for this reason. I needed to put on my 10X magnifiers, and then darken the photographic image to make this message readable.

It must be so that the common courtesy of inquiring as to the well being of those with whom we communicate without regard to the situation is not a situation new to the era in which we live. Here is a message letting Fern know that someone has died. This message is blunt, yet given the fact that we don't know what kind of relationship there was between Fern Brugger and Clara Schlater who received the message of Fern's death, we will never know how bluntly it was received.

To
Miss Fern Brugger
Austin, Minn.
R.F.D.

Message

Just grand weather
Esthel

Dear Fern,

Grandma wants me to tell you that Clara Schlater's mother is dead. She died the 11th. How are you all. Why don't you write.

PostCard Talk by Mary Katherine May March 1914 Germania Life Building St Paul Minn LUNAR ECLIPSE

PostCard Talk by Mary Katherine May (babamarusia)
owner of Quality Music and Books

On March 10, 1914, there was a lunar eclipse, which the writer of this postcard in St. Paul, Minnesota, dated March 14, 1914, mentions in her note mailed to Chicago, IL. The sender says also that he (or she) will be going to a matinee to see Johnny Valentine. This would not be the famous wrestler of same name because he was born in 1928, and this postcard is from 1914. It may be John Valentine Eppel, who authored the melody used for the song, The Missouri Waltz.

Please continue on ...

The Germania Life (Insurance) Building
St. Paul, Minn.

Addressed to Mr. W. J. Remo
6122 Dorchester Pkwy (?)
Chicago Ill.
Postmarked & Dated 14 March 1914 1 PM
St. Paul Minn.

Dear Will--

Read some yesterday. Just have a few spare min & thot I'd drop you a card. Yes I saw the eclipse of the moon watched it from 8 till 10:30 when I got tired & went to bed. Weather here is dandy am going to the matine this P.M. to see Johnny Valintine (Valentine).

Ida

Postcard: Published by Weight, Barrell &Stilwell Company, St. Paul, Minn.
115.
Made in Germany.

On March 10, 1914, the New York Times ran an article about the lunar eclipse event that would happen on March 11, 1914. The eclipse was "visible from all points in Western Europe, North and South America and Western Africa, and ...more than nine-tenths in shadow. Astronomers went to work during the eclipse because clearer observations of objects in space are possible.

PostCard 1914 St Paul LYND MN City Hall Court House GAS by Mary Katherine May

Post Card
St. Paul City Hall& Court House

March 16, 1914
St. Paul, Minn
1-cent George Washington

written by Mary Katherine May of Quality Music and Books

This postcard was purchased to be used for a project in which I will write what I have about my Grandmother, Pauline Rychly Koshuba Haydak. Pauline arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 4, 1914, by train from New York.

Upon entering the United States, coming from Bila, Galicia, still for a few months part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She was processed through Ellis Island. This is one of the most humorous messages I have read on a postcard, though I doubt that was the intention of the writer.

March 16th is also our wedding anniversay, 36 years in 2010.

Addressed to:
C. H. Austin
Lynd, Minn.

Message:
Dear Henry

I am a little better. Eat a little more. Slept pretty well. The gas is the worst.
Clara B. Austin

1905 RPPC Undivided Back View Montgomery Ward Tower Chicago

The Montgomery Ward & Co. Building
Chicago
One of the Largest Commercial Buildings in the World

by Mary Katherine May of Quality Music and Books

Real Photo Postcard
Undivided Back Era

This postcard example offers many details that can be pointed out for the collector of topicals, postcards, and stamp collecting, as well as the possibility of identifying the person to whom it was addressed.

The Montgomery Ward building in Chicago, complete with tower, was the "talk of the town" in its day. When completed in 1899, the 25-story structure at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Madison Street was the tallest building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Aaron Mongtomery Ward, known as Monty to his friends, was a creative innovator. Ward and his well-known rival, Sears & Roebuck, also centrally located in Chicago, took their retail goods to the whole of America through catalogue offerings.

The postcard, dated in the message on Sept. 25 1905, 1 PM, shown here displays a clear date of Sep 26 1905, 7 AM, arriving in Rockford, Ill. (see next paragraph) on its way to Versailles, Ohio, R.D. No. 2. Marked upon arrival to its destination city, the stamp is faint but still mostly readable: Versailles Ohio, Sep 27 1905, 8 AM.

Also of interest will be the stamp, Scott No. 300, Benjamin Franklin 1¢, which very nicely has the plate number 2258 attached below the stamp. And, to top off delightfully for the collector, the back is stamped MISSENT TO ROCKFORD ILLINOIS.

The paper used for the postcard itself, though looking a bit soiled because it is, is a rough-to-the-touch, non-white card stock. The brief message below the Montgomery Ward building shows that Amanda Miller, the sender, had a playful side to her character.

The Message

This is written in the sky to let you know I am living high. ... Amanda Miller

The postcard recipient: Miss Beth Maurer, Versailles Ohio, R.D. No 2.

1924 Postcard with Fort Snelling MN Connection Major Geo A Sanford

1924 at Fort Snelling
Blog Post by Mary Katherine May

It is pretty obvious that most people would not collect this postcard for its appearance. Creases with cracks, soil, ruffling, edgewear... and St. Mark's Episcopal Church from Loring Park in Minneapolis, Minn. is hardly a rare view.

What I find interesting, as I always do, is the brief message on the back. The message on this card is a bit longer--tightly fitted words written with a fountain pen that either had surges in the flow of ink, or else the paper of the postcard absorbed the ink each time even the briefest of pauses occurred.

Postmark: St. Paul, Minn., March 18, 1924, 10:30 AM
Written: March 14th, 1924, at Fort Snelling, Minn.

There really is no Fort Snelling, Minnesota, although when first erected and used, at one time the furthermost outpost, it might have seemed such--way back when...

Addressed to:
Mrs. Arthur Lafferty
Lake City Minnesota
R R

Fort Snelling Minnesota
Care of Major Geo. A. Sanford
Come to St. Paul
Write to Us

My dear niece and family...

The Message
My dear niece and family

Just a card to let you know that I am here with my son George and family. I expect to go to Amarillo, Texas to visit Grace &and her family the last part of this month. He would like to have make us a visit before I if you can. George and Veta(?) join me in love and best-wishes--with love to all of you--from Aunt Mary Sanford.

Mary and Rick may own Quality Music and Books, an online Book, Music and Gift webstore, based in Minneapolis, MN.

Birthday Greetings with Real Photo Inset Bricelyn Wells MN

Birthday Greetings to Miss Florence Scriver, Wells Minnesota
August 4, 1909

A third postcard about Florence, the three acquired at the same time. This postcard has some gilt Birthday Greetings, whether or not written by the sender--I don't know. This postcard is a welling wishing to Florence, who now must be home, since now going to where her mother lives Wells, Minn.

Postmark: August 5 1909 6 PM Bricelyn MN

Addressed to:
Miss Florence Scriver
Wells Minn

The Message:

Dear Flo (I can't make out the rest on this line)


I was home 4 weeks and come back Sun. We had a lot of compony yesterday from town. We got some flowers. Good by.

Rosomond.

Artwork:"Birthday Greetings" in gold-tone or gilt cursive writing by hand, inset photographs of boaters (? 2 women, 1 man ?) and geese on the lawn. Location currently undetermined.

Rick and Mary May operate the webstore Quality Music and Books.