Vintage Postcards: Postcard Blog » patriotic postcard

Fanciful Fourth of July Postcards with Uncle Sam and Children

VintagePostcards — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:14:25 +0000

Happy Fourth of July to our readers! July Fourth, with its patriotic images of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty, and the holiday’s association with fireworks, led to fanciful, festive postcards with splendid graphics at the turn of the 20th century. Above, we see a finely detailed and embossed 1911 Fourth of July post card showing a young girl surrounded by fireworks and firecrackers, as a cannon detonates next to her. The American flag waves patriotically in the background. Now, of course, we’d be horrified to see a child standing next to a detonating cannon.

Everyone would gasp in horror now at the thought of a young boy running with wild abandon while firing a pistol in the air, but Uncle Sam looks on approvingly as he holds firecrackers aloft while fireworks explode in the background. This unused vintage postcard dates to about 1907. Postcards depicting Uncle Sam are themselves highly collectible.

Read about little-known April Fool’s Day postcards, or see more Fourth of July post cards at our website. Visit the world’s largest postcard bookstore.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lady Liberty

VintagePostcards — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:40:52 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Here’s a noteworthy 1908 Thanksgiving greetings postcard of a patriotic Lady Liberty, clad in a flag costume and perhaps shepherding two turkeys to their ultimate fate! Gilded, embossed and in excellent condition, this one was a keeper, and flew off the shelves.

Read about a fanciful Halloween postcard, or see more holiday postcards at our website. Browse the world’s largest postcard bookstore.

Uncle Sam Wishes You a Patriotic Merry Christmas

VintagePostcards — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:16:06 +0000

There’s finally a chill in the air and Christmas is closer than we think. (We know, you didn’t want to hear that!) As an early Christmas present, we thought we’d share this unusual Christmas postcard. With striking graphics, this out-of-the-ordinary 1910 postcard shows a patriotic Uncle Sam wishing us a Merry Christmas holiday. It was published by Arthur Horwitz, and is in very good condition. We’ll be showcasing more holiday postcards over the coming weeks.

See some ice skating postcards, or view more Christmas postcards at our website. We also offer the world’s largest selection of postcard books.

A Smiths Falls, Ontario Patriotic Postcard

VintagePostcards — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:53:41 +0000

Canadian patriotic postcards tend to be more localized and — in many instances — more imaginative and flamboyant than their American counterparts. This scarce unused and undivided-back c. 1901-1907 patriotic postcard offering greetings from Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada is an example of the small-town localization often seem in Canadian patriotics. This desirable Lanark County collectible is in excellent condition.

Two authoritative Canadian patriotic postcard checklists have been published While both are out of print, they can be found from time to time in online bookstores. W. L. (Wally) Gutzman’s The Canadian Patriotic Post Card Handbook, 1904-1914, was published by the British North America Philatelic Society in 1984, and contains many postcard images not seen in Michael J. Smith’s The Canadian Patriotic Postcard Checklist, 1898-1928, which was published in 2003. Both books are worth including in any postcard reference library.

Read another post about Canadian patriotic postcards, or see more patriotic postcards at our website. You can learn more about postcards at our popular reference page. We also offer the world’s largest selection of postcard books.

July Fourth Holiday Vintage Postcard

VintagePostcards — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:43:57 +0000

What fun! Here’s an unused c. 1907 patriotic Fourth of July postcard with great graphics. The lady has a Gibson Girl-style up-swept hairdo and a finely detailed white lace dress on. She holds aloft a lit firecracker, with more firecrackers and a noisemaker in her other hand. Gilded and embossed, with American flag shields in the bottom corners and the whole topped by an American eagle. We hope you have a great Independence Day!

See more Fourth of July and holiday postcards at our website.

Remembering a Lost Holiday

VintagePostcards — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:46:48 +0000

Are you old enough to remember how we used to celebrate President George Washington’s birthday on February 22? Until 1971, both February 12 and February 22 were federal holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington respectively. In 1971, President Richard Nixon merged the two holidays into Presidents’ Day, to honor all past presidents. It’s observed every third Monday of February.

This brightly colored 1909 postcard celebrates Washington’s birthday. Profusely gilded and embossed, it was signed by postcard artist Ellen Nash. It depicts elements from the old “I cannot tell a lie” legend about Washington’s childhood, with the message reading: “Washington, his truthfulness.” See more George Washington and holiday postcards at our website.

Read about another lost holiday and see Decoration Day postcards.

Decoration Day and Memorial Day Postcards

VintagePostcards — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:17:48 +0000

With the Memorial Day holiday coming up this weekend, we thought we’d explore how this holiday has evolved in vintage postcards. The changes may surprise you.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, as the embossed patriotic postcard above shows, and was intended to remember Union troops who died in the Civil War. It fittingly began as a black history celebration, with the first impromptu Decoration Day observed in 1865 by liberated slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, at a site which had been both a Confederate prison camp and a mass grave for Union soldiers who died in captivity. Thousands of emancipated blacks and Union soldiers marched in a parade which was followed by rousing patriotic songs and a picnic. However, Waterloo, New York gets the credit as the official birthplace of Memorial Day, because the village formally observed the holiday on 5 May 1866.

Major General John A. Logan helped popularize what was then known as “Decoration Day.” On 5 May 5 1868, while commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic a veterans’ organization, he issued a proclamation calling for nationwide observance of Decoration Day; the first national observance occurred that year on 30 May, a date chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any battle. Publishers such as Raphael Tuck created Decoration Day postcards and artists such as Ellen Clapsaddle, working for the International Art Publishing Co., created dramatic patriotic compositions. Tuck also published a series of much scarcer Confederate Memorial Day postcards; the South, unwilling for years to participate in a holiday honoring Union dead, didn’t adopt Memorial Day celebrations for the most part until after World War I, as Memorial Day began to take on a larger meaning commemorating all war dead. The above c. 1907-1915 postcard, which has a Winsch back, is from Decoration Day Series No. 3.

The alternative Memorial Day name, first used in 1882, didn’t become more common until after World War II. It wasn’t until 1967 that it was declared the holiday’s official name by Federal law. This colorful c. 1907-1915 Memorial Day postcard incorporates numerous patriotic elements including the U.S. Capitol, flag motifs, a Union soldier beating a drum which bears part of the Pledge of Allegiance, and laurel wreaths which, since ancient Greek times, have signified victory. Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Browse the Decoration Day postcards at our website.

Read about another forgotten holiday and see Washington’s Birthday postcards.

Happy Fourth of July, v2.0

VintagePostcards — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:19:43 +0000

And here’s the fairer sex and our other iconographic image of Independence Day, Lady Liberty, celebrating the Fourth of July. This vintage postcard was published c. 1907-1915. Early Fourth of July postcards often contain some of the most memorable images of any old postcard genre.

See more Fourth of July postcards, or read another blog post about holiday postcards.