The Paper Girl

Antique & Vintage Ephemera Since 2019

5 Antique Thanksgiving Postcards

I missed Canadian Thanksgiving this year (it’s been a very busy time!) so I figured, well, better late than never—especially with all of the Thanksgiving postcards I have hanging around here!

My Gods. Turkeys all the way down except for one postcard. Just one.

A Tom shows off to some hens that really could not possibly manage to scrape up an ounce of care if their lives depended on it. What fascinates me the most about this piece is the snow-covered scenery: I rarely, if ever, see snow in Thanksgiving cards! I adore the little chickens. The one on the right that’s running off appears to be on a very important mission.

It was published, or at least copyrighted, in 1908 by M.W. Taggart in New York.

Now here’s a nice, simple sentiment:

Greeting and all Good Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

The wishbone is a nice touch! All that ornamentation on the lettering is gorgeous, I cannot imagine how long it would have taken to prepare.

It also attempted a turkey. It was a very vague attempt, I’ll still give them credit for trying!

Ah, textured paper, my old nemesis. Despite that, it’s a sweet image of a child feeding a turkey. The turkey doesn’t appear too thrilled about anything (which may just be because he’s aware he’s in a Thanksgiving card), let alone that there’s a small child within pecking distance.

Turkey’s just looking for The Ladies.

May the Harvest Moon shine on [full?] crops of happiness this Thanksgiving Day for you.

A Patty Thum postcard! Patty Thum was an American artist that was known for her landscape paintings. She was also an avid illustrator of children’s books and loved to paint roses. This lovely autumn scene would make a perfect print on its own—the typeface used here is very, very unusual.

It’s interesting, though none of the text is placed very well on this image.

Say, here’s your Thanksgiving!

This cheeky little bugger is from 1907, by the Ullman Manufacturing Co., a company with a fairly long list of products. They printed postcards, lithographs, and greeting cards, among other commercial print pieces.

I’m fond of this particular postcard because of this kid.

I hope you all enjoyed this batch of Thanksgiving postcards, and I can’t wait to see you here again for another round of ephemera!

1920 Funeral Card From Gamebridge, Ontario

Elizabeth Jane Brock passed away in Gamebridge, Ontario, on Monday, May 3rd, 1920, as per her funeral card. Without this curious little piece, we may not know she existed.

Funeral card for Elizabeth Jane Carson, Gamebridge, Ontario
Inside of 1920 funeral card—just click on it to open in a new tab.

She was married to Adam Carson and was only 50 years old when she died. Her funeral left the family home at 2:15 pm on May 5th, 1920, and the church service started 15 minutes later.

I have never seen ‘intimation’ used in this way and had to look it up: it’s a subtle suggestion. A hint. If you were like me back then and couldn’t grasp a hint to save your life, you probably didn’t attend!

Since originally posting this piece, I stumbled upon the scan of the front, and decided it had to be in this post and not on its own. It’s as simple as the inside.

In Loving Memory funeral card from 1920

Very little needs to be said on a funeral card—a single glance tells you exactly what it’s all about.

If you prefer your ephemera clean and bright, I restored both sides of this funeral card for you!

restored funeral card of Elizabeth Jane Brock, Outside
restored funeral card of Elizabeth Jane Brock, Inside

Back then it was the norm for a person’s body to remain in the home until burial. Now, however, not really, though it depends on the culture. We in North America are separated from the realities of death and I sometimes wonder if that’s a bad thing—perhaps it’s why empathy is in short supply.

That, or I’m just feeling cynical today. Alas.

Funeral cards, memorial cards, mortuary cards, or remembrance cards are still made and distributed today. You won’t see them as often now as in the 19th and early 20th centuries, however. They’re a keepsake of the beloved dead, a small piece of history to tuck away for later.

Join me again soon for more ephemera and, perhaps, a little history lesson.

Cheers!

signed, missie

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4 Real Photo Postcards of Young Women

The past several weeks have been super busy with re-arranging the store (Treasures by the Locks in Fenelon Falls), preparing for an upcoming job interview, getting Treasures’ social media sorted out, and getting my shops properly set up. Unfortunately, that has meant neglecting the things I want to be doing—like blogging. Especially blogging.

This week’s offering will be a short one, alas, though I do have several things in the pipeline and Plans afoot. Plans is capitalized because it is an Important Word, you see.

Among my various postcards have been some lovely early 1910s RPPCs featuring young women. The subject matter varies little otherwise, and I just like these images. They’re simple and kind of relaxing. They may be good for making cut-outs, too.

A real photo postcard showing a young woman looking at the camera. She is holding flowers, wearing a long flowy garment, and the background is a painted village.

Amag 6363B/6, by Albrecht & Meister AG. The postcard company that printed this image produced a lot of postcards featuring various actors and actresses, and started business in the 1860s. They were based in Berlin, Germany, with an extensive collection of offered postcards. I think my favourite detail in this piece is her outfit, the garment is very loose and flowing, not super-restrictive.

This company made several postcards of Mary Pickford that I would really like to get my hands on, hint, hint.

A cheeky lady on the beach, photographed by Alfred Noyer, whose work out of his Paris studio consisted of many beautiful women in varying states of dress. This real photo postcard is from the late 1910s. Noyer’s studio was in operation from the early 1910s to the 1940s, and the quality of his work is consistently very good. I would really like to have a swimsuit of the pictured style! The backdrop is definitely painted, this must have been a studio photograph.

Now isn’t this sweet? A hand-coloured portrait of a girl and her horse, also by Albrecht & Meister AG, numbered 63397/6. Horses were another common subject of Albrecht & Meister! The colourist paid close attention to the lighting here instead of applying a uniform colour to everything regardless of how bright it was supposed to be.

I wonder what secrets she’s telling her friend? Wouldn’t this be perfect for a horse-themed birthday invitation?

I admit to being extremely biased toward this postcard because I, too, love reading, though that’s not a very comfortable position for doing so. She may be writing in a journal, though, hence the file name. This is a Lithuanian postcard, I believe, and the translation (according to Google) would be “I congratulate you on the name day”.

Her outfit is adorable and I kind of want it.

Thank you for joining me this week. I hope you enjoyed this selection of real photo postcards of young women, and I hope you’ll stop by again soon.

Just so you know, I have updated my Ko-fi page with a new membership. Buy me a coffee and download all my printables for free (the digital files in the shop!) or donate monthly, starting at $1.00, to unlock the same.

Higher tiers get a little gift in the mail as a thank-you.

A Podia community is being developed that will allow me to offer things like courses. This sort of thing takes time, however, so all I can say is “watch this space” and hope. 😉

See you soon!

xoxo

Missie

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