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In the best of health but working like a beaver
Katheryn McMahon Newton album, cards 64-65 More ships, albeit not naval cruisers. Both of today’s cards, as usual, went from Fred to Katheryn. First up, a rather pretty view from northern Oregon versus northern Washington. Fred posted it in Seattle, so either Oregon views were for sale up in Seattle or (equally likely) he picked it up while down in Portland (or Astoria, for that matter). In this case, he’s tossing a bunch of different topics into the message–writing a postcard instead of sending her a letter because he’s tired. Seattle Apr. 3rd 1908 Dearie: Just in from Green Lake a small town about 18 miles from here. Made a…
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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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Berlin, a Terrace, and Mental Telegraphy
Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 27-29 First a card not from Fred but with a message. One “Billy” (last name unknown) is in Berlin (Germany) and moved to send a postcard to Katheryn–whom he (or she) addresses as “Kitty”–and ask forgiveness for not writing before. This dates to 1907, i.e. before most of the cards from Fred. Without more information about the individual, there’s fairly little to say as regards sender. Or is there? This does provide an inscription to compare with Fred’s. First off, it’s shorter–or rather, Fred’s are longer. I’ve acquired enough postcards, and particularly enough batches of postcards sent by one person, to say that Fred is…
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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…
