Guide to the Postcard File Ca 1890-Present (Bulk 1900-1940) PR54
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Guide to the Postcard File ca 1890-present (Bulk 1900-1940) PR54 The New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West New York, NY 10024 Descriptive Summary Title: Postcard File Dates: ca 1890-present (bulk 1900-1940) Abstract: The Postcard File contains approximately 61,400 postcards depicting geographic views (New York City and elsewhere), buildings, historical scenes, modes of transportation, holiday greeting and other subjects. Quantity: 52.6 linear feet (97 boxes) Call Phrase: PR 54 Note: This is a PDF version of a legacy finding aid that has not been updated recently and is provided “as is.” It is key-word searchable and can be used to identify and request materials through our online request system (AEON). 2 The New-York Historical Society Library Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections PR 054 POSTCARD FILE ca. 1890-present (bulk dates: 1900-1940) 52.6 lin. ft., 97 boxes Series I. Geographic Locations: United States Series II. Geographic Locations: International Series III. Subjects Processed by Jennifer Lewis January 2002 PR 054 3 Provenance The Postcard File contains cards from a variety of sources. Larger contributions include 3,340 postcard views of New York City donated by Samuel V. Hoffman in 1941 and approximately 10,000 postcards obtained from the stock file of the Brooklyn-based Albertype Company in 1953. Access The collection open to qualified researchers. Portions of the collection that have been photocopied or microfilmed will be brought to the researcher in that format; microfilm can be made available through Interlibrary Loan. Photocopying Photocopying will be undertaken by staff only, and is limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days. On-site researchers may print out unlimited copies from microfilm reader-printer machines at a per-exposure rate; see guidelines in the reading room for details. Copyright The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978, cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder. Permission to reproduce or quote in publication Permission to reproduce or quote materials from this collection in a publication must be requested and granted in writing. Send permission requests, citing the call number and name of the collection, to Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 2 West 77th Street, New York, NY 10024-5194. Citation This collection should be cited as Postcard File, PR 054, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society. PR 054 4 Biographical/Historical Notes Mailable postcards were introduced in the United States in the 1870s, chiefly for advertisements and business notices. Pictorial souvenir cards issued in 1893 for the World’s Columbian Exposition popularized view cards. The 1898 reduction in postcard postage, from two cents to a penny, triggered a flood of card production. Millions of cards were mailed and collected annually in the United States through World War I. As postcards became more popular, publishers began addressing new subjects, with holidays, patriotic sentiments, political campaigns, and social issues gaining popularity in the first decade of the twentieth century. The Albertype Company, begun in 1889 in Brooklyn, New York, produced photographic views, postcards, and souvenir booklets for areas across the United States. The company’s output eventually reached several million pictures per year. The Albertype Company ceased operation shortly after the death of Herman L. Wittemann, the son of one of the founding Wittemann brothers, in 1952. Samuel V. Hoffman, a postcard collector, began systematically searching for postcards with views of New York City in the 1890s and continued to collect them through the 1940s. He donated 3,340 of these postcards to the New-York Historical Society in 1941. Scope and Content Notes The Postcard File contains approximately 61,400 postcards which depict geographic views, buildings, historical scenes, modes of transportation, holiday greetings, and other subjects from ca. 1890 through the present. The file is an artificial collection, built up over the last century. A variety of printing processes and postcard types are represented in the collection, including photographic, lithographic, photomechanically printed, and novelty cards. The majority of the postcards are in excellent condition; approximately half were never mailed. Approximately 10,000 cards come from the stock file of the Brooklyn-based Albertype Company. Other major publishers represented in the collection include the American Souvenir Card Company, the Illustrated Postal Card Company, and the Detroit Publishing Company. Subject divisions within series reflect the gradual growth of the collection. The file is divided into three series: Geographic Locations: United States; Geographic Locations: International; and Subjects. Series I. Geographic Locations: United States dates from ca. 1890 to the present. Cards are filed alphabetically by state and thereunder by city, town or geographical feature. Extensively represented cities are subdivided by building types, streets and other subjects. Some oversize and miniature postcard souvenir sets relating to New York State and City have been filed at the end of the collection in larger boxes. New York City views predominate (11,000 cards), and are followed by the rest of New York State (13,000 cards), and all other areas of the United States (22,000 cards). New York City cards fill boxes 40 through 60 and are arranged in two sections. Section I includes cards pertaining to the city as a whole; Section II includes cards that are arranged by borough. Section I is arranged into General Views, Bridges, Tunnels, Harbors, Rivers, Islands and Topics (including Celebrations, History, and Humor, among others). Manhattan cards fill boxes 44 through 56 and are arranged into the following categories: Panoramic Views; Churches; Temples; Clubs and Organizations; Buildings – Named; Buildings – Types; Monuments; Parks, Squares and Circles; Streets – Numbered; Streets – Named; Numbered Avenues; and Transportation. Researchers should note that Buildings – Types includes a rich variety of subjects, such as Banks, Department Stores, Hotels, Museums, Restaurants, and Schools and Colleges. Cards portraying Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island fill boxes 56-60 and are arranged alphabetically by subject.. Postcards in this series generally depict popular tourist destinations, vacation resorts by the sea and in the mountains, prominent buildings, businesses, civic institutions, modes of transportation, and street PR 054 5 scenes. Souvenir cards from events, such as the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, are also present. Well represented tourist attractions include Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and the mountains of New Hampshire. Typical city souvenir cards show attractive urban life in views of public courthouses, libraries, spacious parks, expositions, and architecturally impressive office buildings and bridges. Prominent residences, historical sites, and scenes of nature are also abundant. Miscellaneous sections can be found at the end of most states, larger cities, and some other subsections. These miscellaneous sections include cards that show unidentified or only generally identified views; for example, the Miscellaneous section at the end of New York State includes views along highways, rivers, and train lines that are not geographically specified. The collection documents the changing landscape and architectural history for the areas represented. It may also be valuable source for social historians interested in researching the history of tourism, transportation and cultural identity. Some of the postcards were included as a result of the New-York Historical Society’s effort to collect cards with representations of less common views of New York State, such as photographs on postcard stock that document towns or events too small to appear in formal publications. Postcards commissioned by restaurants, hotels and other businesses also provide valuable visual documentation of sites not otherwise represented in the collection. Series II. Geographic Locations: International contains approximately 1,600 cards relating to Canada, Caribbean Islands and other North and Central American countries. Cards are arranged alphabetically by country, and thereunder by city, town or geographical feature. Canadian cards have been placed at the end due to the larger of size of that subseries. The cards focus primarily on tourist destinations such as historical sites, beaches, lakes and parks. Series II. Subjects contains cards dating from ca. 1890 to the present which are arranged alphabetically by subject. Unidentified postcards are located at the end of the series. The cards show ships, trains, political and other portraits, comic scenes, and holiday and sentimental greetings. Included under the Unusual Postcards category are novelty cards; examples of these include cards that have views in which lamps or windows appear to be lit when held up to strong light, others that have three-dimensional fold-out sections, and still others that have been constructed from wood, leather or other atypical materials. The American History subseries contains cards relating to events, sites and memorials of historical significance