Business
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A great coaling station
Katheryn McMahon Newton album, cards 60-63 First a card from Europe without a message–or is there one after all? This card, by the way, I do not think comes from Billy. Based on the handwriting, there were at least two people in Europe sending postcards back to one or another Miss McMahon in Chicago. (They may have traveled together–the lack of information leaves that a possibility.) Given the absence of an explicit message, what might the implicit message(s) be? For one, that the sender is/was alive and well on the date when the card was sent. But what about the image and poem on the front? The image I don’t…
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Calling on the Drug Trade Book + Department Stores
Katheryn McMahon Newton album, cards 57-59 In which we get more information about what Fred Newton does for a living! As supposed, he’s a salesman. What he sells may vary. He could work for more than one company at any given time, for all we know. However, thanks to the first card shown here we know what he sold, where, and for whom on at least one instance. The Mr. Sears Fred referred to in other cards is evidently “L. Sears Paper Co.” They produce tablets and stationery, which Fred is selling around Washington–this particular day he went to Ballard and called on a variety of stores. It’s not an…
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Not setting the world on fire with orders
Katheryn McMahon Newton album, cards 44-45 Fred Newton was in sales, although we still don’t know what business. The first card for today provides a little more information about his operations, although it doesn’t change the “don’t know” side of the equation very much. The card itself is a view of one of Seattle’s parks. In fact, both of today’s cards are of Seattle parks–originating with the same firm, Paul C. Koeber out of New York and Kirchheim, Germany. Fred might have purchased them at the same time but, given the amount of time separating the postmarks (over two weeks), it’s just as likely he acquired them separately. The lines…
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Billy in Berlin and Fred in Salt Lake and Seattle
Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 32-34 First up, explicit reference as to how Fred expects Katheryn’s correspondence to reach him. Alas, this inspires in me an even greater desire to see her side. I recognize this desire is unlikely to be fulfilled. Her cards and letters most likely were destroyed at some point, whether deliberate or accidental; if they do survive, they may be scattered and even if they aren’t it would be a herculean task to try and locate them. “Dear Kit: Just arrived in the MormonTown – Train 1 hour + 50 m late. Passed through a fierce blizzard + snow storm after leaving Glenwood Springs. Am writing…
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From the Governor’s Private Secretary to Writing Everyday
Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 30-31 Evidently, Fred decided to call on the Governor of Colorado, Henry Augustus Buchtel, while passing through Denver. I still don’t know enough about him to find him in the Census–and I’m not (yet) going to start other research to find him in Seattle and/or Chicago records and related materials. The population of Colorado at the time was numbered in the high hundred-thousands; that of Denver in the low hundred-thousands. Fred’s evident comfort level in making the call suggests he came from higher up the class ranks–even though he settled for “a very few minutes” with the Governor’s private secretary. To continue the discussion of…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Special Rate Train Trip Tennessee to California–Write Today for Particulars!
Many a marketing and/or advertisement campaign included postcards. I’ve got a variety of postcards advertising one or another product, plus various postcards announcing gift subscriptions, and more. Today, however, I’m focusing on a travel tourism endeavor for which I happen to have not one but two connected postcards sent to the same person. The recipient was Emma Looney, then living in Decherd, Tennessee. Alas, in her case the U.S. Census is not particularly helpful. I have 78 postcards from an album she kept, but there’s no ready match for her in 1900 given the dates of the postcards and names/initials of family members versus the potential hits in the Census;…
