amUSIngArtifacts

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

You’ve made it to the end of the Fall 2024 semester….congratulations!  Finals are behind you or soon will be.  Hope they went well, and that you are able to enjoy a well-earned holiday.  In the meantime, enjoy these vintage postcards for Christmas and the New Year. 

This first postcard is not dated, but it is unique in the use of daisies, a flower not commonly associated with winter and/or Christmas. 

The next postcard was mailed from and to Evansville on December 24, 1909.  The card was sent to Miss Mary Louise Mann, 15 Upper 8th St., Evansville, IN, and the message says, From Nannie.   This artist is probably Alfred Mailick, 1869-1946.  Mailick is best known for his “romanticized impressionistic hunting scenes,” although he was also recognized as a book illustrator and postcard designer.

The next postcard is a little bit more modern. On December 16, 1906 it was mailed to Miss Jane Hestand, 209 Hess Ave., Evansvile, IN.  The message reads, Hello little girl, I [received] you [sic] letter some time ago but have been in the woods and could not write but will write you a nice long one soon. Hoping you have a very pleasant Christmas tide. George H. Fletcher.

The name Mrs. Clara Webber was written on the back of the next postcard, but it was never mailed and is thus undated.

The most modern looking of the postcards seen here is this one, mailed to Mrs. Thomas McCutchan, R.R. No. 4, Evansville, IN, and the message says M. McC.  A possible identity for M. McC. would be the recipient’s mother-in-law, Mary Horan McCutchan.  It was postmarked December 23, 1918.

Moving on to wishing you a Happy New Year of 2025, let’s take a look at a few vintage New Years postcards. The first (at least the theme) is Scottish, based on an ancient song that Robert Burns set to music in the 1780s. “The phrase ‘auld lang syne’ roughly translates as ‘for old times sake’, and the song is all about preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year.”  The first verse and chorus (Scottish language version) is:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

(Chorus)
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

The following postcard was printed a Germany, as were many of the others in this collection. 

The artist was of the next postcard was Frances Brundage.  This card was printed in Germany and mailed to Miss Sabine Bowyer, F.F. D. #4, Evansville, IN.  The message reads, Very busy but have time enough to stop for a New Years Greeting.  Regards to all. from Parson.  “Frances Isabelle Brundage was an American illustrator best known for her depictions of attractive and endearing children on postcards, valentines, calendars, and other ephemera published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Samuel Gabriel Company, and Saalfield Publishing. She received an education in art at an early age from her father, Rembrandt Lockwood. Her professional career in illustration began at seventeen when her father abandoned his family and she was forced to seek a livelihood. In addition to ephemera, Brundage illustrated children’s classics such as the novels of Louisa May Alcott, Johanna Spyri, and Robert Louis Stevenson, and traditional literary collections such as The Arabian Nights and the stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood. She was a prolific artist, and, in her late 60s, was producing as many as twenty books annually. Her work is highly collectible.”

The glitter seen on this last postcard is a common decoration on vintage postcards.  This one dates to 1908.  The back of the card says From E. Welcker, but it was never mailed.

See you in 2025 with a new blog about Buffalo Bill Cody.