A Festival of Postcards (4 Ed.) – Water

 

A Festival of Postcards (4th Ed.) – Water

Well, the postcards have been flowing in for several weeks – I’ve just come up for air – and now it’s your turn to enjoy a great selection from over 30 bloggers featuring such water-related topics as: beaches, boats, bridges, lakes, oceans, oysters and water parks – as well as mermaids and the spot on the Nile River where Moses was purportedly found!

This issue opens up with Postcards in the Past Tense which showcases vintage postcards and articles by family historians and deltiologists, and then we continue with – The Artful Postcard – our section devoted to the art of the traditional postcard and contemporary mail art. We finally close with – Contemporary Postcards – where you can view postcards from the last few decades and learn about various postcard-related projects around the world.

I’m also delighted that Postcardy Lynne agreed to write our feature article this month. If you’ve read Lynne’s entries in former Festivals, then you’ve visited her site Postcardy: The Postcard Explorer. It contains over a thousand postcards which you can view quite easily by clicking on one of the categories in the left sidebar. But Lynne doesn’t just have a wealth of postcards – she has a wealth of information, and she’s sharing some of that with us this month in her feature article View Postcard Types.

 

Feature Article

Do you know how to date a postcard when there are no obvious clues such as postmarks or stamps? Well, postcard styles have evolved over time and these styles have been organized into eras. In her article View Postcard Types, Postcardy Lynne uses view postcards from her personal collection of historic views of Minneapolis to illustrate postcard styles ranging from turn-of-the-twentieth-century RPPCs to the more recent Continental Modern. If you’re new to dating postcards then this article is a MUST read!

Postcards In The Past Tense

Stripping Along The Rocks is the phrase on the front of this historic, b/w postcard which is a first-time entry from Alaskan blogger Postcardkris. Kris says he’s sharing postcards from what he his so-called “modest collection” but if you visit his beautiful blog “Post Card Images: 100 years of life, love and mystery”, you’ll realize that high quality can beat out quantity anytime!

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What does footnoteMaven of Shades of the Departed have for us this time? In her post “And Too/Two Well-Dressed To Get Wet”, she’s sharing another rppc from her private collection. For those of you unfamiliar with footnoteMaven’s work, she specializes in the collection and study of photographs, so the postcards she shares with us are RPPCs – Real Photo Postcards. We ALWAYS learn something over at Shades of the Departed. This time you can learn something about the history of Kodak and the real photo postcard market – and if you’re not already familiar with it, check out her carnival blog – Smile For The Camera.

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Grace of Vintage Postcards Revisited is back with a 4-part series of elegant, century-old postcards called Lady At The Lake that tell a romantic little tale – although I don’t quite get the ending! In case you didn’t know, Grace also blogs at Thrifty Cheapskate, the Wandering News Gatherer, My Family Roots Run Deep and The Wandering Graveyard Rabbit. Wow!

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Donna Pointkouski’s post Even an Ocean Can’t Separate a Son’s Love for Mom depicts the area around Cannes on the Riviera and I think the combination of landscape and handwritten lettering make it quite special! Donna says “My father was on a cruise of the Mediterranean in 1958 courtesy of the U.S. Navy. Here is a postcard that shows a map of the Côte d’Azur that he sent to his mother for her birthday.” Isn’t she lucky to have a vintage postcard with a family connection?

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Judith Richards Shubert presents Lover’s Retreat – Crazy Water Community of Mineral Wells, Texas with the comment “The Suspension Bridge over Lover’s Retreat near my hometown of Mineral Wells, Texas, was a delightful destination for many in years past. The mineral waters of the area were the life’s blood of the community.” Type the word “postcard” in the search box and you’ll find that Judith has several water-related postcards including one of the Buchanan Dam.

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Linda Hughes Hiser presents a Stevengraph postcard that portrays the ship on which her Hughes ancestors immigrated to America. I love the way she has paired it with the passenger manifest containing the names of her Hughes ancestors. Flipside is a good place to see great examples of family-history blogging with postcards! Incidentally, if you’re curious about this type of postcard you might also want to visit Stevengraphs Bookmarks & Postcards Etc.

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Chris Overstreet is joining us for the first time from his cleverly named site – WILD POSTCARDS:A (RE)COLLECTION. Chris describes his blog as “a collection of ramblings and remembrances about my collection of postcards” which he’s built around a nucleus begun by his great-grandfather and aunt. Wild’s is one of only a handful of postcard sites that I visit several times per week – and you’ll understand why if you stop by for a visit! For his first Festival he’s submitted Two for Tuesday: Florida Waters with vintage views of Miami and Lakeland (he has another entry from Girls Go Postal! below).

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Lisa L has been blogging for only a few months now and she’s on what she calls “my journey to discover my family history/genealogy“. In her post titled – Deltiology – Lisa shares a postcard from her mother’s collection along with a few wry comments. This is Lisa’s first blog carnival and I hope everyone finds time to welcome Are You My Cousin to the world of carnival blogging!

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Lucie LeBlanc Consentino presents Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink and tells us that , “These old postcards representing water bring back many memories about my family’s summer frolics as well as life in the city where we lived. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink was my mother’s favorite expression when we were at the beach or we were where water was not potable.” Acadian Ancestral Home will be a place to watch over the next few months as Lucie begins sharing postcards from several family collections.

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Tangled Trees is a website reflecting one genealogist’s “thoughts, tidbitds, inspirations and, of course, brickwalls”. For our Water Festival, Genealogger T. Casteel has submitted A Vacation Frame of Mind – a lovely vintage view of Avalon, Catalina which is an island located near Los Angeles, California. I’d also like to recommend another of her posts – On Ships They Came which features the historic RMS Ausonia.

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Postcard from Old Town is a blog that specializes in views of this historic town which is located on the Penobscot River in Maine. Luckily for us Scott Caron has recently been showcasing some Old Town Churches. I say luckily because this 1911 postcard is the only one in our Festival that features a church – and as a matter of fact it shows two. Scott also has two other water-related postcards – one of the Penobscot River and another of a covered bridge.

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Lydia from Writerquake is a newcomer to the Festival. She submitted her early twentieth century postcard of the ferry boat “Solano” which is accompanied by excellent research notes, however when I dropped by her site today I couldn’t help but add her July 29^th post of an image of the place in Egypt where Moses was purportedly found by the Pharoah’s daughter. How could we have a water festival without the Nile – and I love the way Lydia has included some research on legends surrounding the site and a whole series of paintings that depict Moses being found on the Nile. This is another good example of blogging with postcards.

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Carol Genung blogs out of Illuminated Ancestries. I loved her post about a ship called the Normanni. As Carol tells us, it’s an important part of her family history because – in her own words – “it brought my ancestor, Wilhelm Gerner, from Germany to New York on 8 December 1893, when he was 23 years of age”. This is the third immigrant ship in the Festival this month – what a great topic for family historians. But Carol has prepared another submission for the Festival which is an early twentieth century b/w postcard of the Old Wagon Bridge aross the Wabash River in Terre Haute, Indiana. This is the style of postcard with room on the front to write a message. You can see another card with white space further down in the Dutch entry from Haagse Prenten.

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Dutch blogger Henk Van Kampen is participating with two of his blogs this month. His first entry is from Roots:A Geneablog and it depicts some some small sailboats out on Dutch waters. I think it’s our only postcard that actually shows the sailors. As Henk points out, Holland is water-rich and his site contains more than one water-related postcard! (his second entry from Haagse Prenten is below).

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From the Forget Me Knot: My Ancestors and My Ghosts blog, Jean Duncan shares a nightime scene of a Stone Bridge in South Manchester, Connecticut. The author explains: “I got started collecting postcards because I was entrusted with my great-uncle Harry’s collection of cards that his mother saved after he died in WWI in France. Many years after his death, the cards were found in the back of a closet. I find new bits of family history every time I study them. I am inspired by the genealogy blogging community to share them in what I hope will be a series of posts.” Jean’s is the only night-time scene in this Festival.

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For this issue, Judy of Judy’s Postcards Plus shares a 1950s postcard of a Water “Blow Hole” in Hawaii. Judy started her blog so that she could share her postcards with others. The Plus in the blog title stands for the fact that she also collects ephemera, and makes and collects handicrafts.

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Janet Iles is the Janet behind the Canadian blog Janet the Researcher. For our Water Festival she’s sharing a mid-1940s postcard of Lake Mindemoya that her mother sent to her father. Janet is one busy lady. She’s a professional genealogist in Ontario and an active member of several history organizations including Markham Berczy Settlers Association, Grey County Historical Society and the Ontario Genealogical Society and the National Genealogical Society. It’s nice to see another Canadian geneablogger in the Festival – Vive le Canada!

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Rhonda Renee of Tampa Bay, Florida has created a really fun site called Shellbelle’s Tiki Hut where you can “talk about beaches around the world, bonfires, building sandcastles, swaying palm trees, flamingos, clambakes, sunrises and sunsets. If it’s tropical, it fits this blog!” Her blog will definitely appeal to fans of everything retro – and for this Festival I’m showcasing her vintage postcards of Coronado, California – Tent City. What a fun site to visit in the waning days of summer!

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Talking about her passion for postcards, Sheila of A Postcard A Day says: “I’’m one of those people who have led a nomadic existence, and so did my parents. My father started collecting postcards as a way to continue this life at least in spirit. I’m continuing the collection and posting at least one, chosen at random, each day.” This time we’re getting a look at a wonderful b/w image of Varazze, the beach that Sheila estimates to be from the 1890s. If this is true, it might be the oldest postcard in this edition – although Henk’s is in the running!

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Jan Frieseke of the Postcard A Day has this great postcard of a beautiful oyster at The Ideal Fish Restaurant of Santa Cruz, CA – and if you want to get a real feel for the eclecticism of Jan’s collection, you should take a look at a more recent water-related card – Ansel Adams advertising postcard.

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Amsterdam blogger Elina Tozzi has what someone in my “retro/vintage/50s generation” would call a “really cool site”. In her own words, she has “ugly postcards, street style, photography, kittens & puppies, 80’s & 90’s, collages, documentaries, Europop, thrift shopping, internet stalking, decorating inspiration, discodip, cupcakes, retro 50’s & 60’s, Lauren & Whitney, Eurovision, legpuzzels, mooier dan Parijs”. You can check out her postcard here at Elina Cuts Loose!

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Festival readers already know Henk van Kampen, The Utrecht (Netherlands) blogger behind Trace Your Dutch Roots, but what you may not know is that Henk has several websites: the Graveyeard Rabbit of Utrecht and Het Gooi, Masterpieces and Roots and also contributes to the Jewish Graveyard Rabbit. Today Henk introduces us to his Haagse Prenten blog with this 1900s (or earlier) postcard showing us a pond at Hofvijver (Vijverberg) pond at Hofvijver. The blog is dedicated to historic images of the Hague, and Henk blogs in Dutch but is kind enough to provide English translations at the foot of each post – so there’s no need for panic!

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This next site – Girls go Postal! One Man’s Obsession With The Women In His Mailbox – is an offshoot of Chris Overstreet’s Wild Postcards which has been online off-and-on since 2003 (see “Two for Tuesday” above). For this Festival, he’s sharing a postcard of The Temple of Venus by Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt. Chris’ site celebrates the female form and even though it’s only a few months old you can already find some great images ranging, for instance, from a vintage b/w postcard depicting traditional Lithuanian clothing to a a modern Coca-cola “Yes” girl. Chris started his site to showcase his collection of “reproductions of classic pin-up posters and tear sheets” and vintage posters of pin-up girls. I think it’s pretty classy – but it does get kind of cheeky at times, so if you’re from a cultural/philosophical/religious background that doesn’t appreciate this, then you’ll want to skip over Girls go Postal!

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Lynne – our feature writer this month – is also presenting this St.. Lawrence Seaway Maximum Card . You don’t know what a Maximum Card is? Find out at Postcardy: the Postcard Explorer site. And if you want to see more water-related postcards Lynne has a ton s- o just type something in the Search box and enjoy yourself!

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Day-ly Genealogy Blogpost is another Festival newcomer – but many of you will already know Brenda Kay Wolfgram Moore from her 8 other blogs ranging from Brenda’s Blatherings to the Military in Korea. If I’ve understood correctly, there is a one thread unifying all of these and that is the region of Grand Traverse, Michigan. In keeping with that theme, she shares this historic image of the Union Street Bridge area in Traverse City. It’s postmarked 1910 and as Brenda says the image probably predates that.

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This is Denise Olson’s third time in the Festival – and one of her former entries – Neptune Grill – would have been quite appropriate today! Luckily, Denise located several fine water-related postcards of Silver Springs to share with us. She tells us that: “Silver Springs is the worlds largest flowing spring and has attracted tourists for more than a century. Take a nostalgic look at a vintage Florida attraction that has managed to hold its own in the mega-attraction era.”

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Karen Packard Rhodes found a nice clutch of water-related postcards that take us from Florida to Ohio to Sicily. They’re posted at her blog – Karen About Genealogy. Why does Karen blog? In her own words, it’s a place to show her “musings about genealogy, including recent developments, methods and sources, her own family history, and whatever is and can be related to them”.

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Randy C of Family History Images (and A Graveyard Rabbit of the Old West), is joining us for the first time with a vintage postcard of Main Street on Centre Island just outside of Toronto (Canada). If you’re interested in period clothing then I suggest you click/enlarge it and take a closer look – there’s an especially nice grouping on the bridge. You’ll see too that Randy did quite a bit of detective work to identify this scene and I’m looking forward to his next posts!

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And finally, the last entry in this category is from yours truly, Evelyn Yvonne Theriault. I have several water-related postcard themes running on my site right now but today I’m sharing a 1905 b/w vintage postcard of the Victoria Jubilee Bridge from my “Bridges over the St-Lawrence River” series. I chose this one with fellow geneabloggers in mind because I was able to have a little genealogy fun with it – and I’m always happiest when I can combine my two loves into one – genealogy and postcards!

The Artful Postcard

Family historian Vickie Everhart is building quite a reputation among Geneabloggers for her digital scrapbooking and she hasn’t disappointed us this month. You can find Vickie’s latest work – Peaks Island – which she’s posted at her blog BeNotForgot, begotten & ne’er forgotten. Vickie tells us that “The story behind the 1987 movie, The Whales of August, was based on the author’s memories of time spent at the family cottage on Peaks Island. The water-themed postcards on this collage are images of Peaks Island, which is the most populated of the multiple islands that dot the surface of the waters of Casco Bay.” Read her article to see the family connection.

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Festival readers already know that Little Red Mail Box is a terrific site that “features mail art of all kinds” with a mission to “document mail we make and receive”. Bloggers mrpotanti and Jacqueline have declared 2009 “the year of altered postcards” and they are spearheading a special project in which they invite you to “change your store-bought or free card so it doesn’t look the same any more” and then send it along to their California or Pennsylvania address. This month I’m linking to two water-related postcards. the first – Trout Over Water has a rather playful feel – while the second – Flora-themed Postcard from Jacqueline has a more meditative quality.

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Arte Postal/Mail Art is the site of Brazilian artist and blogger William A. Unfortunately for me, his site is not in English but if you’re interested in altered art you should definitely drop by – not only because you’ll see some high quality art – but also because William has a terrific blogroll which leads to dozens of online mail art projects. For our water-related theme, I’m linking to two of his most recent posts. The first is a sophisticated piece of mail art which William received from Tamar Joneh of Cachoeira, Brazil while the second is a rather intruiging altered piece by Italian artist Rossana Cagnolati.

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Each month we link to a site where we can learn more about traditional postcards. Life In A Postcard Mirror is for those who would like to delve a little deeper into what blogger Debra Gust calls “the picture postcard as art, visual document and popular culture icon”. Gust is the Image and Licencing Specialist for the Curt Teich Postcard Archives and in her own words she believes “that postcards as visual documents tell the unabashed story of the exponential growth of the twentieth century, revealing the century’s greatest character flaws and strengths”. As you can see from these quotes, Gust is an effective articulator of the importance of postcards and of their place in a wider context, so if you’re new to the study of postcards – or their use in family history work – then you might want to set aside some time to read her posts. Today, in keeping with this our water-related theme I’ve linked to her post Drowning in Postcards which concerns the Great Lakes Eastland Disaster and Gust’s own preparations for a postcard exhibition.

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I came across this colourful vintage postcard of the 1933 Chicago Fair after I decided that we couldn’t have a water-related Festival without at least one theme park. This postcard is from Bill Campbell‘s site – The Oz Enthusiast – which focuses on books and artwork related to Baum’s story The Wizard of Oz. Bill says “The Wizard of Oz was the first “big book” I read as a kid, and I was hooked. My interests lie mainly in first editions of the original books and artwork from the series – but that’s one of the best things about Oz, there are so many facets to fascinate people and collectors! As an Oz enthusiast and collector, this is a place for me to jot some thoughts on pieces in my collection.” Not a postcard site but interesting nevertheless!

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If you’re a crafter then you’ll enjoy a type of mail art that’s a little off the beaten path for us, but it’s certainly in keeping with our idea of the Festival as a place for everyone who loves postcards. I invite you to visit the site – Cross Stitch And Be Happy – where Finnish blogger Kirsi prepared this delightful piece of mailart for her daughter Emma.

Contemporary Postcards

As I surf the internet looking for postcard sites I’ve come across quite a few interesting projects devoted to making the world a better place. One of these is the Austrian/Estonian blog A Postcard for World Peace which calls on us to “raise our voices up and let the whole world know that in every corner around the globe we want peace!”. Blogger Alberto Severino is asking people to send in postcards with peace messages which he plans to use for expositions advocating world peace. For this Festival he’s submitted a lovely postcard of Iemanja, Goddess of the Sea, by Brazilian artist Jose Francisco Borges.

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Croation blogger Dragan Buskulic is presenting his postcard of Krka Waterfalls in Croatia from his blog The World On Postcards. This is not Dragan’s first Festival. He participated in our premiere Wheels Festival with a set of gorgeous vintage automobiles posted to his other blog Pre Stamped Postcards & Aerogrammes. Congratulations on your new blog and welcome back Dragan!

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Last, but not least, we have this chrome postcard of Canada’s Historic Rideau Waterway which was submitted by New Delhi postcrosser Abhishek Chandra. Postcrossing is a modern twist on traditional postcard or pen pal exchanges. Postcrossers join the Postcard Crossing Project so that they can “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world”. Some Postcrossers collect certain types of postcards and this is the case for Abhishek who already has 477 (!!!) postcards depicting Unesco Sites. And, if you’ve never looked at the master list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, you might be surprised to find something from your area on the list and Abihishek would be delighted to receive your postcards!

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Blog List – August Festival of Postcards

Abhishek’s PostCrossing Journey – Acadian Ancestral Home

A Canadian Family – A Postcard a Day – A Postcard for World Peace new!

Arte Postal / Mail Art new! – Are You My Cousin? new!

BeNotForgot :: begotten & ne’er forgotten – Cross stitch and be happy new!

Day-ly Genealogy Blogposts new! – Elina cuts loose!

Family History Images new! – Flipside

Forget Me Knots: My Ancestors and My Ghosts

Genealogy Traces – Girls Go Postal! new! – Haagse prenten new!

Karen About Genealogy – Illuminated Ancestries – Janet the researcher new!

Judy’s Postcards Plus – Life in a Postcard Mirror – Little Red Mail Box

Moultrie Creek – POSTCARD-A-DAY – Postcards from Old Town –

Post Card Images: 100 years of life, love and mystery new!

Postcardy – Roots – Shades Of The Departed – Shellbelle’s Tiki Hut new! – Tangled Trees

The Oz Enthusiast new! – Vintage Postcards Revisited – What’s Past is Prologue

Wild Postcards new! – World on postcards – Writerquake new!

Logos and Links For Your Festival Post or Sidebar!

A Festival of Postcards (4 Ed.) – Water

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