• Business,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Logistics,  Social,  Travel,  Weather

    Good Company and Weather; Bad Connections and Mail

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 25-26 This first card is not in particularly good condition. There’s a notable fold down the middle–almost a tear. Most of the cards from the album are in better shape, so my guess is that this card got bent when being mailed from Seattle to Chicago. When it happened doesn’t really matter–it’s unlikely to make a difference in any particular way except that the notable damage would likely reduce the price were it to be sold on it’s own. Then again, as with so many of these cards, their value is not so much in the images as their contents–particularly their collected contents. The image…

  • Business,  Collecting,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Real Photo Post Cards,  Social,  Travel

    Very Fond of Children and the Pacific Coast Limited

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 20-22, 24 Today’s is a bit of a miscellany. First is a travel postcard produced by the Metropolitan News Co., a northeastern firm responsible for a number of regional-oriented images. This particular card has no inscription whatsoever. The sender evidently presumed Anna McMahon would understand from whom it came–likely the only person she knew in Boston at the time. As a side point, according to Google Maps 1800 State Street is about midway between the two addresses we have for Katheryn McMahon. 2621 South Shields Avenue (Google is not currently offering me an option for North Shields) is about 1.5 miles walk south-southwest. 315 Wabash…

  • Business,  Collecting,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Real Photo Post Cards,  Social

    Altered Images, Love Letters, and Guilt Trips

    Katheryn McMahon Album, cards 16-19 If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the worth of a picture with words added? This post has two examples of a benefit some people found in sending postcards versus letters: the opportunity to interact with the image on the front. A classic method is for a sender to inscribe initials or names on people portrayed on the front of the card–even or especially when the images were mass produced and patently not the sender, addressee, or anyone they knew. Fred did this himself, as shown in the post on 11 January, when he added Katheryn’s and his initials to a man…

  • Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Real Photo Post Cards,  Weather

    My Little Pal Out Here (a Lonely Heart in Colorado Springs)

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 13-15 Fred wrote and sent this postcard only a day or so before he sent Katheryn the album to store her postcards in. Or did he in fact write this on the 12th of February and the inscription in the album on the 14th? Dates are funny things, after all, and subject to flux. The dates Fred inscribes might represent the days he’s actually sitting down or the days he wants associated with whatever he’s writing. These are usually the same thing, or close enough to make no difference–and barring evidence otherwise I’m willing to take his dates as good. Particularly because most of the…

  • Collecting,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Social,  Travel

    Where the Birds are Better Than Alarm Clocks

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 10-12 The next card in line lacks any inscription whatsoever. Whichever postal station marked the card managed to add wavy lines canceling the stamp without including anything to indicate when or where it was posted. The where probably Portland, Oregon, given that the front bears glittery letters offering “Greetings” from there As for the rest? My guess: Fred Newton at some point in 1907. Fred, because it’s his handwriting (or a very close approximation) and he passed through Portland at various points. 1907 given the address specified for Katheryn McMahon: the Atlas [School] Supply Co. on Wabash Ave in Chicago. A cursory review of the…

  • Collecting,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Social

    Tennis, Hammocks, and Young Love

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 8 & 9 These cards offer a second instance (so far) where Fred Newton sent Katheryn more than one postcard on the same day. These are dated to 22 March 1908, by which time he reached Seattle. Combined with the previous cards’ postmarks and the date and location inscribed in the album, he’s traveled quite a bit in three months’ time. Chicago, Colorado Springs, Portland (OR), and Seattle. Plus, I peeked ahead and he was also in Salt Lake City long enough to send at least one card in February. I haven’t figured out what he did just yet, but I’m guessing some kind of…

  • Collecting,  Health,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Logistics,  Social

    Well? Happy Birthday, New Year, and A Swell Postal Album

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, post 3, cards 4-6 In my last post, I indicated Fred sent Katheryn two postcards on her birthday in 1908 (along with a letter and box). Correction: he sent at least three. Someone tucked the third into the album a little further along (#6). Under normal circumstances, I’d have processed the whole album before posting anything here and thus I’d have presented all three together, probably as part of a chronological arrangement. You’re getting the “in the weeds” version instead, where I post as I go along. History in the writing! (Or at least in the research.) Let’s jump to the third birthday postcard, aka card…

  • Health,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Miscellaneous,  Social

    Birthdays, Happy Faculties, and Dental Fillings

    Katheryn McMahon Newton album, post 2, cards 2 & 3 I selected a birth announcement postcard to open this blog. Coincidentally, the first two postcards in this album are for Katheryn’s birthday. Which one? Unknown, as of yet, but we do know the day: 15 January. So I’m posting this blog entry a little less than two weeks before the date. Both cards are from Fred Newton, who dated and posted them on the 15th of 1908 in full expectation that they would arrive that same day. This was quite possible in the early 20th century, when the mail was sometimes delivered several times a day in cities. Perhaps not…

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