Monetizing liberty (1911 postcard)

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness — sure.

But the most truly American thing of all is the pursuit of making a buck.

This looks like a nice postcard that's patriotically highlighting the Liberty Bell, one of the foremost symbols of the United States' struggle for independence. Upon closer examination, the text of the front of the card states: 

"Proclaimed liberty throughout the world. The ENTERPRISE Meat and Food Chopper proclaimed to housewives liberty from the old fashing chopping bowl."

It's an advertisement, y'all. The postcard was published by Souvenir Post Card Company and printed in New York. This one was postmarked on October 24, 1911 — 115 years ago, a few years before World War I — and mailed to Mr. William Bixler of Lickdale, Pennsylvania with a one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp. Maybe William was considering buying an Enterprise Meat and Food Chopper for his wife as a Christmas present. You know, to give his wife the gift of some "liberty."

The text on the back states:

"There will be a greater profit from pork products this Fall than from hogs on the hoof. Equip now with an ENTERPRISE Sausage Stuffer and Lard Press. Longest service — more profitable all the time. Air cannot enter the casing. 

"Enterprise Meat and Food Chopper. Retains all the juices, because it does not mangle the material, but cuts like shears. Come in and let us show them to you.

"George Krause Hdwe. Co.

Lebanon, Pa."

Having outlived their use to capitalism, Enterprise's choppers and grinders and stuffers are now just offered on the resale market as antiques. Well, I guess that's capitalism, too. Folks trying to make a buck off pieces of the past. Maybe the Liberty Bell will end up in an auction some day, too. (Don't mind me, I'm just grumpy as I write this.)

Arizona's bicentennial meteor crater

While we're slouching toward the next month's semiquincentennial — 45.5% of respondents to an LNP | LancasterOnline poll said they were "indifferent" to America's 250th birthday as it undergoes what is arguably a slow civil war — the celebrations of the United States' bicentennial were much more robust in 1976. 

For example, Arizona's famous Meteor Crater had its own bicentennial-branded postcard 50 years ago. 

Published by Petley Studios¹ of Phoenix, printed by Dexter Press and with a photograph courtesy of American Airlines, the back of the postcard has a somewhat amusing caption:

"The world's best-preserved impact-collision crater pocks the earth about six miles south of U.S. No. 66 between Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona. Energies released to form this crater (sixty stories deep and 4,150 feet in diameter) were greater than our nuclear blasts. Diamonds were formed instantly, limestone was popped like popcorn, and iron meteorite was vaporized."

Footnote

1. Anne L'Ecuyer's blog The Posted Past ("We trade loneliness for connection, one postcard at a time") has an excellent, detailed post about the history of Petley Studios. It begins: "Bob Petley launched Petley Studios in 1945 with twelve comic postcards. Then, he spent the next four decades photographing the mid-century Southwest from behind a windshield."

Related posts

• Hoping to see UFOs for 1976 bicentennial Independence Day
• Some Phillies Fever from the Bicentennial summer of 1976

Saturday's hand-painted postcard

This colorful handmade postcard arrived this week from Benilde, a Postcrossing member in Spain who is a cook. She also enjoys stamp collecting, architecture, jazz and the restoration of antique furniture, all of which sound like wonderful hobbies that don't require staring at a handheld screen all day. We should all send more postcards, but especially handpainted ones like this. I need to up my art game! 

Some Postcrossing arrivals

I've had some time to get back into Postcrossing a little bit, and I've received some nice cards and messages in the mail the past few days. 

The "A Call for Peace" postcard is a Karen Kerney design that's available from the Syracuse Cultural Workers website. Sender Misty, who lives in Georgia with her family, eight cats, dog and a tortoise, hopes for a better world for all.

The card featuring the "Outlaw Guns" and "No Nukes" buttons is from the collection of the Busy Beaver Button Museum and was mailed to me by a "friendly ghost" in Maine. "Friendly ghost" writes: "I hope the future is governed by science, peace, and collaboration."

And on the vintage card showing the southern tip of Manhattan, sender Amy writes: "This card came from my dad's apt. when I cleaned it out. Seeing the Twin Towers brings back memories of that sad day. I wish religion and politics would bring the world together — instead of tearing us apart. Pray for peace."

Easter mystery postcard

This badly damaged Easter postcard, with its image of children and chickens worshipping a child-sized pink egg, is quite the mystery. Would be very happy to get some feedback and insight, starting with the language and translation of the text at the top of the card (see closeup below). After some internet searching, my very tentative guess is that this is Kurrent, an old form of Germany handwriting based on medieval cursive, according to Wikipedia. It's also known as Kurrentschrift or deutsche Schrift. It was phased out in schools and eventually became obsolete starting in the 1910s. Am I way off? What do you think?

The back of the postcard adds to the mystery and I have little insight beyond some more guesses. One guess on my part is that the 9 4 13 in the postmark signifies April 9, 1913. That's a good bit after Easter, though, which I believe was March 23 in 1913. Meanwhile, the word ВЕНДЕНЪ appears in the first postmark. Again with some internet help, I'm going to guess this is (1) a place name, (2) pre-revolutionary Russian, written in Cyrillic script. Clearly different from the printed script on the front of the card. And what place is ВЕНДЕНЪ? That may translate to Wenden, of which there were several in Germany. There's also Cēsis, Latvia, for which the German name is Wenden. The second postmark contains the word ЛИГАТЪ, but I can't glean much insight from that. 

Please share your thoughts and clues regarding this fascinating very old postcard! 

Guerre

Whenever I fall into a rut of not posting, whether it's due to busyness, stress, depression, despair at world events or some combination of the above, I typically look through postcards to find something that can spark me to break the streak. In this instance, I already knew which postcard I wanted, but I had to go through the entire shoebox to find it. 

I used to have about a half-dozen of these postcards labeled "Guerre 1914-1918." I no longer remember how I acquired them. And this might be the only one I still have, unless the others are elsewhere. Over the years, I've thought often about posting one of them, but there never ended up being a match between the motivation and the moment. 

Now seems like a grimly appropriate global moment.

The photograph for this Great War postcard was taken by Marcel Delboy and was #48 in a series. According to the website undivided-back postcards, Jacques Marcel Delboy (1882-1941) was based in Bordeaux, France: "Delboy published his work as black & white collotype postcards and souvenir booklets. Some of his cards were hand-coloured. He later used Delboy and Yobled (Delboy in reverse) logos."

This postcard features the Great War devastation in Fismes, a commune in northern France. The caption is in both French and English, with the English version stating "Esplanade street after the bombardment of the Germans." 

This photo is likely associated with the monthlong Battle of Fismes and Fismette (Fismette being a hamlet linked to Fismes by bridge), which took up most of August 1918. More than 2,000 Americans were killed and nearly 14,000 wounded during the month of fighting. There are no historical figures for French or German casualties. The horror created a lasting bond between Fisme and Pennsylvania (particularly Meadville), where many of the soldiers had been from.

Hervey Allen (1889-1949), a National Guard soldier from Pittsburgh who survived the gassing, fires, shrapnel and shell shock of the Battle of Fismes and Fismette, wrote this in his memoir, Toward the Flame:

"It took me about half an hour to crawl to the river. I had to put my mask on at the last, as the mustard gas was strong in the little hollow in which I lay. My hands were smarting. Some of the shells brought my heart into my mouth; lying there waiting for them was intolerable. I was sure I was going to be blown to pieces. The river was very nearly in flood and so there was no bank, the field gradually getting soggy and swampy till it sloped out into the water. There was a lot of submerged barbed wire that made going ahead very painful and slow. I had, of course, to throw away my mask as it got full of water. My pistol went also. It was too heavy to risk.

"Once in the water, I worked under the single board of the footbridge, shifting along hand over hand, which took me halfway across. There I struck out, plunging in a few strokes to the other side and working through the wire. Swimming with shoes was not so difficult as I had thought, but the cold water seemed to take all my courage, which was what I needed more than ever. Our own machine guns were playing along the railroad track on our side of the river. After getting across, it seemed for a while that I would be caught between the two fires.

"I lay there in the river for a minute and gave up. When you do that something dies inside."

Saturday's postcard from Tokyo

Something cheerful for a grim state-of-the-world Saturday: This lovely postcard arrived this week from a fellow Postcrosser in Tokyo, Japan. I love that cat peeking in the doorway. The whole image reminds me of Fruits Basket, for some reason. On the back of the wonderfully decorated card (see below) she writes:

Hello, Chris, my name is Miki and I live in Tokyo. I want to be a journalist in the future, so I'm studying hard. The postcard's picture is Japanese traditional fall event. In Japanese countryside, people make dried persimmons. If you have a chance to visit Japan, I think autumn is the best season. I hope you are having a good day!

Here are some links for more on Hoshigaki (Japanese dried persimmons):

• Persimmons: A Sweet Autumn Tradition in Japan
• Hoshigaki: A Beautiful Fall Tradition
• Why I’m Hand-Massaging Persimmons Every Day (& Loving It)
• The History of Japan’s Autumn Harvest Festivals

1949 silhouette postcards from Ocean City, N.J.

Continuing with the theme of posting about some items I came across during the sorting and decluttering of family ephemera earlier this year, here are some 1949 postcards labeled "Silhouette by Greenberg" from Ocean City, New Jersey.

I'm mostly sure I know who these folks are, with one tricky one. Clockwise from the top left, we start with the tricky one. It's either my grandmother Helen or my great-grandmother Greta. I'd lean toward it being Helen. Then comes my great-grandfather Howard, followed by Mom, who would be about 18 months old if this was created in the summer of 1949. Finally, that's Mom's brother, Charles, who is slightly older.

Greenberg was in business for a good while, as I've seen eBay listings for similar silhouette postcards from as early as 1939. It's a good bet the business was located on or near the Ocean City Boardwalk. Greenberg was far from the only outfit making silhouette postcards in the United States in the middle of the 20th century. I'm guessing some popular tourist spots had a dozen or more vendors.

Ellie McCrackin, working for the website Postcard History, wrote this interesting history of silhouettes and the Wikipedia page goes into even more depth.

Semi-related posts

• Saturday's postcard: New Jersey trolley line in 1907
• 10 postcards showing Atlantic City as you've probably never seen it
• Partial mystery photo: Three women in Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Did you enjoy your weekend down the Jersey Shore?
• Two of my great-grandmother's nieces in Atlantic City in 1939

Saturday's postcards

That's Devo, circa 1978, in the middle bottom.

For Postcard Saturday, here are some of my dandy recent arrivals from fellow Postcrossing members. 

• Lisa, a longtime Hello Kitty fan, writes that she just moved to the Vancouver, Washington, area and enjoys "being out in nature appreciating all the wildlife and beauty," including opossums and bald eagles. 
• Tilly, who sent the postcard in the top center, recently moved from right here in Pinal County to Wisconsin and says she misses the warmth. My response: It's 91 here today, and I'm a little weary of the endless warmth we're now going to have until Halloween or later. Tilly works in the antiques business and doesn't like cold pizza.
• Júlia in Slovakia writes that she loves gardening and talking to her parrots.
• Christa in the Philippines writes: "I was very happy to read your profile, especially where you wrote about accountability & transparency. It is also something we experience (or the lack thereof) in the PH. While I did not end up in journalism, I also enjoy writing (and journaling) as a means to practice good English, and to write about interests."
• Carol, who has sent and received more than 17,000 Postcrossing cards, writes: "First, let me say that I know how important good journalists are these days. I have my favorites. I was dismayed to see that a third of the staff of The Washington Post was laid off. But Bezos hasn't been a friend of the people, anyway. My fav book reviewer, Ron Charles, was laid off so I subscribed to his Substack."
• Renee sent the amazing postcard shown in the lower left above. She writes: "Hello and greetings from Iowa. ... I'm a retired librarian, widow since 2021. ... I share my days now with Sissie my 8 y.o. cocker spaniel and build doll houses." She adds in her profile that she likes books (of course!), playing the guitar and listening to metal turned "up to 11"! 

Finally, here's a lovely illustration of King Ghidorah, that meddling three-headed dragon.   

Saturday's postcard: Nicollet Avenue

Linen postcard of Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a brighter day.

Handmade postcard of Wan-Long Tailor in Tainan West Market

This month I received this amazing handmade postcard via Postcrossing member Jyayu in Taiwan. It's an oversize card, measuring 5¼ inches by 7¼ inches, and was clearly drawn and painted with great care and love. It's one of my favorite cards I've received in more than 13 years of Postcrossing.

Her message on the back states:

Hello Chris!!

The Wan-Long Tailor store shown on this postcard has been in business for over 30 years. It's located in the Tainan West Market (opened in 1905). It was once the largest market in Southern Taiwan. In my hometown, Puli, there is a widely circulated story about a "Black Sorcerer - Maxa-daxedaxe."

Legend has it that the sorcerer feeds on the hearts of child to increase his magical power. Reportedly, He can fly as long as attaching banana leaves to his back. If he needs to go out at night to seek his targets, he will replace his own eyes with the cat's eyes, allowing him to see clearly in the dark. Because of this, in earlier times, parents would carry their children on their chest rather than on their back to prevent Maxa-daxedaxe from forcefully snatch the child.

This English-language website has a little more information about Maxa-daxedaxe as it relates to Indigenous storytelling. If anyone from Taiwan or with Taiwanese heritage knows any more about this legend, I'd love to read it in the comments section.

Mystery Christmas RPPC from 1914

Beyond the photo itself, there are really no clues to help us discover more about this real photo postcard that was presented to someone at Christmas 1914. I figure it was either delivered in person or mailed inside an envelope. 

The writing on the front states "December 1914" and the generic message on the back simply states "A very happy Christmas to you all from us all! 1914." 

Cartolina Postale is Italian for postcard. Gevaert is presumably the name of the company (in Europe?) that manufactured the RPPC.

So, who is this and where is this? It would seem we might have a slim chance of identifying the location, if it still exists, given the unique look of the concrete stairs and the concrete wall the young woman is sitting upon. As for her, the resolution isn't very good, but she's wearing a wide-brim hat, a jacket, a skirt and boots. It looks like maybe she's tucked a small branch into her jacket, but I'm eager for second opinions on that. And it looks like she has a ring on one finger.

Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Also, if you're interested, this 2021 post has a list of most of the other "mystery RPPC" posts on Papergreat.

Saturday's peaceful postcard

This undated postcard (probably from the 1960s) features the "Waiting Room for ceremonial tea" at the Mikyato Hotel in Kyoto, Japan, a city that dates to 794. It's a beautiful location, with its waterfall, boulders, bushes, gravel and small structure that blends perfectly with its surrounding. It believe it's called a chashitsu, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

According to Wikipedia:

"The term chashitsu came into use after the start of the Edo period (c. 1600). In earlier times, various terms were used for spaces used for tea ceremony, such as chanoyu zashiki (茶湯座敷, "sitting room for chanoyu"), sukiya (place for poetically inclined aesthetic pursuits [fūryū, 風流]) such as chanoyu), and kakoi (囲, "partitioned-off space"). An account stated that it was the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa who built the first chashitsu at his Higashiyama villa in Kyoto. It was described as a small room of four-and-a-half tatami and was separated from the main residence."

This location may still exist, though it's surely been modified over the decades. And of course tea ceremonies for tourists are much more commercialized. It's likely there are multiple hotel-based ceremonial tea room experiences offered in Kyoto. This website for Miyako Hotel Kyoto Hachijo offers a "Japanese tea ceremony experience wearing kimono" for 10,000 yen (about $64 today). 

And I found a 2023 article by The Mainichi newspaper that features some photos that look like they might be of the same location shown on this postcard. 

Ringing in the holly-jolly month with a vintage Christmas postcard

Somehow, December returned.

We're now in the Yuletide countdown and the countdown to 2026, so there will be some holiday-themed posts sprinkled across this month, even though it's 70 degrees today in the Sonoran desert.

Papergreat has featured more then 200 posts themed "Christmas" over its decade and a half of existence. I haven't actually updated the directory since 2000, but this post will get you to dozens upon dozens of past posts, if jingle bells are your jam.

Today's postcard is a Whitney Made card that was postmarked at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 1915 and mailed to Clara Hoff of Berkeley, California. The short cursive note on the back states: 

Dear Clara

I wish you all the good things your stockings can possibly hold.

Mrs. Schneider

The image on the front of the postcard features Santa Claus holding up a lantern so he can double-check his list while on someone's porch. The message states:

I'LL BE THERE TO-NIGHT

SO TURN DOWN YOUR LIGHT

HANG UP YOUR STOCKING

AND CLOSE YOUR EYES TIGHT

The idea that you're not supposed to see Santa Claus is a superstition that has persisted through the decades. When being interviewed for the Dartmouth Folklore Archive in 2021, 18-year-old L.M. stated:

“Me and my younger cousin Mallory every year had an app on our Mom’s phones called Santa Tracker. We would track Santa while he was flying around delivering presents around dessert time to make sure he wouldn’t come to our house before we were asleep because we wouldn’t get any presents. Santa’s not going to give you any presents unless you’re in bed and asleep. If you weren’t in bed when Santa came it meant you were naughty and got Coal in your stocking, that's what our Moms told us.”

1907 Thanksgiving postcard

Happy Thanksgiving. There's a lot to unpack in this 1907 postcard published by The Rose Company. Let's start with the illustration on the front. At the top, there's a golden crown. Underneath the crown is a turkey. And the turkey is standing on a shield that has the design of the United States of America's flag, over the top of which is printed these words:

Europe has its turkey

Asia has the same

But the turkey

of America

Is King ~

of all the game

With the crown and the turkey and the pro-America message this card hits in some disconcerting ways in 2025, but that's all my personal projection based upon our current moment with kings and "turkeys" and America First.¹

If I had to speculate, I'd say this is a fairly harmless Thanksgiving postcard that's being a bit playful in touting American exceptionalism during an era when the United States' global power was rising. If anyone has any insights or alternate interpretations of this card, I'd love to read them in the comments.

There are cursive messages on both the front and back of this postcard, which was sent from Newton, New Jersey, to Lowell, Massachusetts, in late November 1907. The message on the front states:

Did you know Mr Hiles [?] has the Typhoid Fever?

Someone having typhoid fever in 1907 would have been a serious medical issue. Though mortality rates were on the decline at that point, thousands of Americans were still dying of the disease. Within just a few years, though, sanitation measures including water filtration, chlorination and pasteurization tamed typhoid's spread, and the military was using a proven vaccine to protect troops in high-risk areas.

The note on the back is a rather perfunctory:

Dear friend:

Rec'd your postal and hope you think of me again real soon. Thanking you for same.

Previous Thanksgiving posts

• Public service announcement that's still relevant
• Bettina's Thanksgiving in the country (and more meal suggestions)
• Nostalgic school bulletin-board material for Thanksgiving
• Three colorful vintage Thanksgiving postcards featuring turkeys
• Stock photo of pilgrims and a dead turkey from a 1940 magazine
• 1971 Thanksgiving gift edition of Ideals magazine
• If you still need a Thanksgiving dessert, make some strawberry pie
• I'd blame the tryptophan, but cat pileups like this happen every day
• 1950 Thanksgiving ads
• (Missing) snapshot & memories: Thanksgiving
• Happy Thanksgiving: Enjoy vintage anthropomorphic vegetables
• Thanksgiving postcard from 1914, plus a little guffaw

Footnote

1. I had a whole rant forming in my head, but I'll be good since today is a holiday. My head is spinning, anyways. I'm not sure if we're barreling toward a repeat of 1789, a repeat of 1933 or some new mixture that future historians simply refer to as "shades of 2026."

Postcard: "To find the pot of gold"

This vintage F.A. Owen postcard features a full rainbow over a bucolic small town and has this bit of verse:

How oft as children we try,

To find the pot of gold;

That rests beneath the rainbow's tips,

And doth such treasures hold.

The postmark date is mostly obscured. I think it's from the 1910s, though.The card was postmarked in and mailed to Sandyville, West Virginia, an unicorporated community in the northwestern part of the state. Its most notable structure may be the Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge, which dates to 1889.

The postcard was mailed to Miss Genevieve Owens. This is what the cursive note states, to the best of my deciphering skills:

Hello Girlie:-

how are you? What are you doing these nice days? Why don't you come up and play with me? I am busy all the time. Can't get time to take a visit, nor even ride the ponys if I had a chance. I am homesick to see you, and hope I shall soon.

No name is signed. As far as the addressee, there was a Genevieve Owens who lived from 1928 to 2018 in that general part of West Virginia, but I'm not sure if it's the same one. And it would put my postmark guess way off and mean this card was from the mid 1930s or later (which I suppose is possible). 

From the readers: Halloween postmortem & other tidbits

I donned my wtich hat & purple socks and handed out candy on Halloween, while Vincent Price read ghost stories behind me (not pictured). 

Another October and Halloween have passed us by. We had a little over 100 trick-or-treaters at our house this year. I like to make a list of how many kids come and what they're wearing. The most popular costume this year was princess, followed by Ghostface. After that, there was a wide variety of costumes, including witch, Snow White, Spider-Man, pharaoh, angel, inflatable dinosaur, Michael Myers, Stitch, vampire, ghost, cheerleader, hamburger, pirate, Black Panther, Supergirl, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, wizard, pickle, Oscar the Grouch, Jawa, pumpkin, cat and, of course, clown. 

Today's a good day for the latest roundup of new reader comments, most of which are from October. Special thanks to Tom from Garage Sale Finds/Stranger Finds for so many dandy contributions!

Spooktober kickoff: "Spooks and Spirits and Shadowy Shapes": Tom writes: "As a kid, I never cared for those 'ghost story' books that had a plausible explanation. I preferred the 'true tales of ghosts' type books whether they were true or not. Those are great illustrations, though. I'd never heard of the Xerox books until later years when I found them at garage and estate sales. I guess they were vying for competition to Scholastic Books?"

Agreed on the book types! From what I can surmise, Xerox, flush with cash in the 1960s and 1970s, tried to leverage its resources to grab more of the education market by cheaply reprinting old books and selling them in bulk, at bottom-barrel prices, to schools. The aim was to expand in a sector where they were already active with educational services and paper products. But since they mostly dealt in reprints, not new material that could create buzz, they never managed to nudge Scholastic aside. But if others have more or better insight on this topic, I'd love to hear from you.

Spooky Sunday: Tom writes: "Great images. I would love to have seen one of those 'spook shows' in person."

Book cover: "Strangely Enough!": Tom and I went  off on some tangents based on posts from years past. He writes: "Nice. I haven't seen some of those covers. I know it's been 5 years, but in case you still don't know, Koogle peanut butter spread was a mixture of either Peanut Butter and Cinnamon Sugar or Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly (there may have been a chocolate one too). I begged my dad for the cinnamon sugar until he finally broke down and bought some. It was awful. It sat in our pantry for years. Funny thing is, I love peanut butter and cinnamon sugar and still eat it on toast."

Vintage postcards of the Winchester Mystery House: Chelsea C. writes: "As a Winchester Mystery House frequenter, I LOVE these postcard shots! If you ever make it out to San Jose, let me know! I'll give you all the insider tips."

And Tom adds: "Winchester House is on my bucket list as well. I'm not sure when I first heard/read about it. It could have been in a book like you mentioned, Weird Worlds magazine, or the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" TV show. It's kind of disappointing that the ghost-driven/paranoia building theory was debunked, it made for a good story."

Halloween newspaper snippets from 100 years ago: Lady M writes: "I love old Halloween advertising, especially the graphics. It is fun how doughnuts and nuts figured big in the holiday."

Kid lit horror: "The Night the Scarecrow Walked": Tom writes: "I never saw this book as a kid, but found it at a garage sale some years ago. Great book."

The spookiness of "Candy and Andy" (but mostly Candy): Brian Busby of The Dusty Bookcase writes: "'Yikes' was my first reaction, as well. Then I wondered what the little 'boy' was doing smoking in bed. On closer inspection, I see that what I took for smoke was just part of the wallpaper design. Growing up in Sixties and Seventies Montreal, British magazines were all about thanks to the great many W.H. Smith stores in the city and suburbs. That said, I'm certain Candy and Andy wasn't carried. There's no way I would've forgotten their faces."

Oliver gets into the Halloween spirit: Tom writes: "I found that print a few years ago and blogged about it. It's a great illustration. And I love the recreation on film. I've never seen that before."

Danny's sweater in "The Shining" was a real thing: Brian Busby writes: "I too was interested in the Colville connections. I'm a fan of the artist. My wife -- who is also an artist -- has always found Colville's work disturbing. When we first met, I had a framed poster from a Colville exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hanging in my bedroom. Fortunately, it didn't put her off. For the record, it was 'Church and Horse,', not the more disturbing 'Horse and Train.'"

The ghost photo that haunted Gen X: Tom writes: "You mentioned all of the ghost photos that haunted my childhood. I loved books like this along with In Search Of... ghost episodes. I was really into the paranormal movement of the early 2000s and watched all those shows religiously, however, I've cooled to them since and frankly they bore me now. However, I'm fortunate enough to have had my own personal experiences with the supernatural to keep me a believer."

Yeah, I watched "Ghost Hunters" for about a year with Joan at the very beginning until I realized it was going to be the same schtick and camera tricks over and over. I'm really glad you have had personal paranormal experiences and am envious, too. I sometimes wonder if being disillusioned, extremely skeptical and not receptive enough to them anymore is part of the problem.

Beautiful but quite common 1881 poetry book: "Farm Festivals": Tom writes: "What a great looking book and love those illustrations. I pick up most books published pre-1920 just because, but you're right, they're rarely worth anything monetarily. It's surprising that an author once so popular is practically unknown today."

From the readers: Treasured copy of "Andersen's Fairy Tales": Anonymous writes: "I found a copy of this book here at my house. I’m not sure who purchased it or how it got here. There’s no written or printed date anywhere. The tiny number on the front cover is 0742. Inside the front cover is: Joeseph Jonas and 35-. The book appears very old, but is in great shape."

What a find. I love it when old books appear out of nowhere. You have a magical house.

McCall Chair Co. ink blotter: Anonymous writes: "My grandfather, Grover McCall, created McCall Chair Co., where most of my family worked over the years. My brother and I accompanied my father, S.K. McCall, after work hours to the 'factory' to play among the wood, upholstery fabrics and sawdust while he worked. Many fond memories!"

Thank you so much for sharing this information! 

Take a ride with Edwards Motor Transit Co.: Commenting on a post from way back in 2010, Bill Gray shares this great information: "My grandfather, Albert 'Swede' Carlson, drove (originally from Clearfield then later DuBois to Buffalo and Pittsburgh) and his brother John was station manager in Williamsport."

October 18, 2025, postcard & shelfie

Halloween postcard mailed to the Bronx in 1909

At some point I should make a directory of all the vintage Halloween postcards I've featured on Papergreat over the years. It's a pretty groovy list. For now you could plug Halloween postcard into the search bar and get most of them (plus some other stuff, too).

This is one of the oldest ones, I suspect. It was printed in Germany. What I presume to be the publisher's logo, with the words "TRADE MARK," is not one that I recognize. The card was postmarked on the morning of November 1, 1909, in New York City and delivered to an address on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx.

The card's text states "With Best Wishes for Hallowe'en" and the illustration is curious. It looks like something out of Versailles-era France, with a couple of lavishly dressed rich people wearing white wigs. She's sitting on an ornate couch, wearing a bluish dress that's twice her body length. He's standing on the other side of the couch, dangling something in front of her. My best guess was that it's supposed to be an apple or an orange. But, looking at it more, I wonder if it's some sort of medallion and he's trying to hypnotize her as part of a parlor game. Also, her head and neck are turned at a bizarre and unnatural angle. Any thoughts?

At the bottom are some green pumpkins and a clock set to midnight. 

For a fun read about vintage Halloween postcards, check out this article by Anthony Cavo on Kovels Antique Trader. 

Vintage postcards of the Winchester Mystery House

Caption: "SARAH WINCHESTER'S unique architectural talent is reflected in this strange 'lucky' 7/11 staircase, as well as her numerous carved doors and walls, and convertible sky light balconies." (card B5053)

Caption: "COSTING IN EXCESS OF $9,000 in the early 1900's this spectacular Grand Ballroom's art glass windows contained unexplained Shakespearian quotations 'Wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts' and 'These same thoughts people this little world'. 9 ceiling panels each contain 13 subpanels, and the German silver chandelier contained 13 crystal shades." (card B5052)

Caption: "MYSTIFYING AND INTRIGUING adventure awaits house guests — Goofy staircase, doors opening to walls, stairs leading to ceilings, rooms with 13 windows and walls and light fixtures with 7, 11, and 13 sections. Why?" (card B5058)

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The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is one of the top locations still on my bucket list, alongside the House on the Rock in Wisconsin. But if I never get there, that's fine. As I noted in 2021, I've been fortunate enough to see Lucy the Elephant, Wall Drug, the World Trade Center, the Haines Shoe House, the Gaffney Peach and the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota. And right here in Phoenix we have the Mystery Castle, but it's been closed for renovations for awhile and is unlikely to reopen anytime soon. Bummer. 

I don't remember when I first read about the Winchester Mystery House, but it could have been as early as the late 1970s in that creepy book-filled Clayton attic or perhaps in the early 1980s. Certainly no later. It was just a chapter in a paperback about haunted houses and paranormal phenomena. I remember it focused heavily on Sarah Winchester's paranoia about ghosts (since debunked), the oddball architecture of the house and the devastating 1906 earthquake that came in the middle of the house's construction and forever changed it. It might have been Susy Smith's Prominent American Ghosts, but I'm not sure.

I think these postcards were both photographed and published by Mike Roberts, though perhaps someone can shed more light on that. I suspect they date to the 1970s. The back of one of the postcards is shown below and features a nifty logo incorporating a house and a skull.

According to the official website, the 24,000-square-foot house features 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 160 rooms, 52 skylights, 47 stairways and fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 13 bathrooms and six kitchens — if you can find them all without getting hopelessly lost. Or bumping into a ghost.

There are gaggles of websites, social media posts and good old-fashioned books about the Winchester Mystery House, if this is somehow the first you're hearing about it. Happy sleuthing! And please share your favorite facts, stories or personal experiences in the comments section. If you share something especially cool, I might mail you a Winchester Mystery House postcard.