Before the picture postcard
The idea of an unsealed card sent through the mail is older than the picture postcard. In the United States, privately printed cards appeared in the early 1860s; a card copyrighted by John P. Charlton and sold by Hymen Lipman as "Lipman's Postal Card" is often cited as an early example. In 1873 the U.S. Post Office issued its first government postal cards with stamps printed on them, and for a time only the government cards enjoyed the cheaper postal rate.
The exposition and the private mailing card
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago produced souvenir cards with pictures of the fair's buildings, and they helped spark public interest in picture cards. Then, by an Act of Congress of May 19, 1898, privately printed cards were allowed to travel at the same one-cent rate as government cards, provided they bore the words "Private Mailing Card". Publishers seized the opportunity.
Post Card, and the undivided back
From December 24, 1901, private cards were allowed to use the simpler words "Post Card". The address side was still reserved for the address alone, so messages went on the front. Cards from these years are known as undivided backs.
The golden age
On March 1, 1907, the Post Office allowed messages on the left half of the address side, and the divided back appeared. The timing was perfect. Color printing, much of it done in Germany, had reached a high point; photography had become accessible enough that local photographers and amateurs could print their own real photo postcards; and Americans embraced sending and collecting postcards with enthusiasm. Hundreds of millions of cards passed through the mail each year at the peak, and collecting them in albums became one of the most popular pastimes in the country.
This golden age, roughly 1907 to 1915, produced the cards collectors prize most: real photo views of small towns, finely embossed holiday greetings, and colorful lithographed views.
The end of the craze
Several things cooled the craze. The Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909 raised duties on imported postcards. World War I cut off the German printers who had produced many of the finest cards. Telephones spread, and greeting cards in envelopes grew more popular. Postcards remained common, but the frenzy of collecting faded.
White borders
From about 1915 to 1930, many printed cards had a white border around the picture, partly to save ink. Real photo postcards remained popular throughout these years, especially in rural areas.
Linens
From about 1930, publishers such as Curt Teich of Chicago printed cards on stock with a textured, linen-like finish, using bright inks over heavily retouched photographs. Linens chronicled the rise of car travel, with diners, motor courts, gas stations and roadside attractions, and dominated into the early 1950s. See linen postcards.
Chromes
Glossy photographic color cards, called chromes, appeared around 1939 and became the standard after World War II. They remain the postcard everyone knows today. See chrome postcards.
Real photo postcards throughout
Real photo postcards ran alongside all of these eras, from about 1903, when photo paper with printed postcard backs became widely available, into the 1950s. They are dated more by their paper marks and subjects than by printed-card eras. See stamp box dating.
Timeline at a glance
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1861 | Early privately printed mailing cards in the United States |
| 1873 | First U.S. government postal cards |
| 1893 | Souvenir cards from the World's Columbian Exposition |
| 1898 | Private Mailing Card Act (May 19) |
| 1901 | "Post Card" allowed on private cards (December 24) |
| 1907 | Divided back allowed (March 1) |
| 1909 | Payne-Aldrich Tariff raises duties on imported cards |
| About 1915 | White border era begins |
| About 1930 | Linen era begins |
| 1939 | Chrome cards appear |
Why the history matters to sellers
Knowing the eras helps you understand what you have. A collection that reaches back to the golden age, with undivided and divided backs, German printing and real photographs, is a different proposition from a box of mid-century chromes. The dating guide shows how to read each era from the cards themselves.
The real photo revolution
One of the most important developments in postcard history was not a postal rule at all. In the early 1900s, camera and photo paper makers made it possible for almost anyone to turn a photograph into a postcard. Kodak's folding cameras could take postcard-size negatives, and photo paper with a printed postcard back let local studios, traveling photographers and amateurs make cards of their own towns, events and families.
The result was a flood of real photo postcards documenting places that big publishers never bothered with: crossroads villages, rural schools, company towns, logging camps and main streets across the country. For historians and collectors, these cards are one of the richest visual records of everyday American life in the early twentieth century, and they are why real photo postcards are the most collected American cards today.
Postcards as everyday communication
It is easy to forget how ordinary postcards once were. In many towns, mail was delivered more than once a day, and a card mailed in the morning could arrive the same afternoon. People used postcards the way people use text messages now: to say they had arrived, to arrange a visit, to send birthday wishes or simply to stay in touch. That everyday use is why so many survive, and why their messages are such a vivid record of the period.
Questions people ask
When were postcards invented?
Mailing cards existed in the 1860s; picture postcards became popular in the 1890s and 1900s.
What was the golden age of postcards?
Roughly 1907 to 1915, from the divided back to World War I.
When did postcards become popular?
After the 1898 Private Mailing Card Act and especially after 1907.
Why did people collect postcards?
They were cheap, colorful, and connected people to places and to each other, a bit like social media a century early.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Postal Service: rates for stamped cards and postcards since 1873
- U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives: postcards and the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff
- U.S. Postal Service: history of Rural Free Delivery (PDF)
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