Postcrossing

As a child, I got caught up in the fad of chain letters. The concept was pretty straight forward: You wrote a letter to X amount of people, and then, theoretically, you would get responses from all over the world. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not so much. I forgot all about the fun and excitement of getting a letter from a stranger, with a unique and interesting stamp, and a note from across the oceans. Then, I found Postcrossing! This is a great website that matches up people all around the world who are interested in postcards and friendly conversation.

Here's how it works:
1. You request an address from Postcrossing.
2. They send you a unique code to put on the postcard with your message.
3. You mail it, and your recipient enters the code.
4. Once the postcard is registered, Postcrossing's system will automatically send your address to someone around the world, and they will send you a postcard!

Here are a few of the postcards that I have received under the username ArtfulGeographic:

You can write a message in your profile telling senders what kind of postcards you like best. I find I often send postacrds with lighthouses from the Oregon Coast, and receive cool reproductions of old cards like these. Hopefully everyone gets something they want.

I lost track of my Postcrossing account when we moved, but now that we are in our new house, I can start back up. Look for some new Postcrossings from time to time, and check it out for yourself!

You can find me here: http://www.postcrossing.com/user/ArtfulGeographic

Kickstarter Project is Live!

Postcard Book Short-Term Goals

So, not surprisingly, I have gotten bogged down at school and submerged in the drudgery of work. I promise to get back to blogging more regularly soon. We have a 5 day weekend next week, and I plan on focusing on my postcard book project. My goal is to have my Kickstarter video and information done by the end of next weekend, and launch the project on Kickstarter around December 16th. Depending on interest in the project, I could have a finished book by the end of April or earlier. I will post a link to the Kickstarter project on here as soon as it's live.

If you have never looked at Kickstarter, it's an awesome resource for artists and creative people who want to fund their projects in a unique way. Check it out here!

Gas Shortage

I feel for people in New York dealing with fuel shortages and storm after storm. For some reason it reminded me of this photo that I found earlier this year.

Upcoming Postcard Book

Hi Everyone,
Sometime soon I will start a Kickstarter project to raise funds to publish a book of photo postcards. The basic idea of the book is to showcase the lives of ordinary Americans through unique and captivating photo postcards. The working title is Voices of a New Century: Photo Postcards of Ordinary Americans 1900-1930. I am really excited about it, as I have been gathering great postcards for the book for a year now. I will keep everyone posted, but as of right now I plan to get the Kickstarter listing up and running in late November or early December. The really difficult task is deciding on a cover photo. I have narrowed it down to four possibilities and would love some feedback, ideas and suggestions.

Which photo captures your attention, and would lead you to picking up the book if you saw it?

Bike, Barn and Buick

Tortoise and the Hare

Captains of Industry

A Promising Future

Hallowe'en

Happy Halloween everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays. One of the most coveted types of postcards is the Halloween card. These cards typically have beautiful artwork, like many holiday postcards in the early 1900s, but are also far more rare. There weren't as many Halloween postcards sent as say, Easter or Christmas cards. As a result, they are highly prized by collectors, and some can fetch quite a lot of money at auction. I have been lucky enough to have a few in my possession, but always sold them to raise money to buy other cards I wanted. Here is a small sample below. Stay safe tonight!

Some get away...

One of the other things I have realized as I begin keeping more postcards for my own collection is that there will always be a few that "get away." Sometimes a postcard you passed on at a show, or had in your collection but sold come back to haunt you later when you realize you wish you had it. As I become more experienced in identifying rare and unusual postcards, I find I have more moments where I realize I wish I hadn't sold a postcard early in my collecting days. I view this more as a learning opportunity than something to dwell on though. Below is a fantastic card that I wish I had back right now, as it would be perfect for the book I am working on. I sold it on Ebay, but probably could have gotten more for it and would gladly trade the money I received to get it back.

Next post: The elusive Hallowe'en postcard.

More Jamaica

One of the most challenging things about the hobby of postcard collecting is deciding what, exactly , you are going to collect. There are collectors of photo postcards, street views, particular topics like logging or other occupations, certain series of cards, holidays and many more. So far, I have been content to just grab anything that looks interesting to me, but I am starting to realize that I may need to focus on certain subjects, and sell the other cards I don't need. This Jamaica card, like the last one I posted, is a good example of one that is tough to sell, because it is just that cool. The fact that someone put it in the mail 106 years ago is just awesome.

This past weekend I went to the Portland Postcard Show and picked up some new finds, but it is a challenge not to just grab every card I like. I will likely set up as a seller for the first time ever at the next show in February, so I need to start thinking less about which postcards I like, and more about what potential buyers will like. I will post more soon about the postcard show, it was a great time!

Jamaica

I found this great old postcard from the Hamburg-American ship line. It shows a Jamaican family in the early 1900s. The amazing variety of postcards still fascinates me.

Nantucket

Sorry for my absence, work is getting hectic! Here are some beautiful new postcards I got just this week. I am listing some of them on Ebay, but may keep a few. I am starting to really appreciate the quality of Detroit Publishing brand postcards!

Many of these are photos taken by a man named H. Marshall Gardiner. He took thousands of photos of Nantucket and many of his best were made into postcards. Most of these are photos by Gardiner:

You can see the corner markings where this card was once housed in an album.

These two Rainbow Fleet cards are pretty nice, but also fetch a price on Ebay that is too good to pass up!

I am getting excited for the Portland Postcard Show coming up next weekend! What are you looking forward to this week?

At the Beach

 I was at a conference on the Oregon Coast this past weekend, and it got me thinking...

 Like many other parts of America, it is the coast of Oregon that has the most history.

There were settlements, trade, and exploration of the west coast before there were ever settlers where I live now, outside of Portland.

Football Season

The college football season is yet another sign that Fall is underway, and the NFL is now in full swing as well. These are two more reasons why Fall is such a great season.

I found this series of nine football players posing for photos while sifting through a box of postcards at a local antique store. Looking for truly great postcards can be kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack, and I imagine it is even more so for experienced collectors. 

They probably see the same cards over and over and are less likely to find cards worthy of their collections. As a new collector, I still find great joy in the "treasure hunt" every time I look through a new box of cards.

I think these young men are probably college or possibly even high school players, although I couldn't say where they are from, and there were no notes or other indications of where they played. A far cry from today's uniforms, but the same common poses of young men who believe they are invincible at the top of the world.

Hats off to the USPS

I had an issue with a postcard being damaged in the mail the other day and had to issue a refund to a customer overseas. That got me thinking, I have shipped hundreds of items across America and abroad over the last year, and only two items have been damaged.

For all the criticism the USPS takes, my experience with large volume shipments has been great. Postcards have arrived quickly and in great shape more than 99% of the time. Thanks USPS!

Cranberries!

Sent from Harwich, Mass. in 1913

This time of year is cranberry season! My aunt and uncle have experience working with cranberries in Massachusetts, and I always love seeing pictures of the harvesting machines moving through the bog. This postcard shows an African-American worker screening the berries.

Fun facts about cranberries:

1. The cranberry is one of only a few major fruits native to North America.

2. Cranberries were often carried on ships because of their Vitamin C content to prevent scurvy. Yarr!

3. Cranberries were used extensively by Native Americans, and were probably served at the first Thanksgiving.

4. America produces about 75% of the world's cranberries.

5. Americans eat 400 million pounds of cranberries per year, and Ocean Spray sells 7 out of every 10 cranberries.

Find more interesting cranberry facts here: Cranberry Facts

Lewis and Clark Exposition

One of the great events in Portland's history happened to coincide with the emergence of postcards in America.

In the late 1800s, amidst a national economic downturn, Portland's leaders decided to  try to spur growth by having a large international fair.

In the end, they decided to celebrate the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by having an exposition in 1905.

This unusual postcard shows off the webbed foot of the mascot of the exposition, naturally a duck. "Where Rolls the Oregon" refers to a famous quote from a poem by William Cullen Bryant in the early 1800s. In the late 1700s, many Americans still believed that there might be some sort of mighty river that could carry someone from East to West. It was often described as the "Oregon."

The exposition was a financial success, rare for the time, but didn't leave a lasting impression on the Portland landscape like the Chicago 1893 exposition. Almost all the buildings were torn down by 1906.

Portland's population exploded as a result of the expo, with an increase from 161,000 to 270,000 residents between 1905 and 1910.