|
 VintagePostcards.org: Postcard Collecting References
|
Canadiana |
Postcard Books |
Postcard Dealers |
Postcard References |
|
Here are a number of references which can be used to research old antique postcards and to date vintage postcards. Many postcard history and postcard artists links are included. Also see the Canadiana and Northern Ontario Postcard Photographers pages for additional postcard references. The story of Antoine’s Moose-Yard provides additional background information on Northern Ontario life as it was more than 100 years ago.
We’ve hand-selected a group of postcard reference books, which you can see on the Postcard Books page, and there’s more postcard information at our frequently updated post card blog. Comments and questions to the webmaster are welcome. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
|
|
- Amusement Parks, Circus, Exhibitions and Fairs:
- 101 Ranch; a history of the 101 Ranch by their Oldtimers’ Association; and The Spirits of the 101 Ranch
- Australia’s Circus History
- Buffalo Bill Museum
- California-Pacific Exposition, 1935-1936
- Celebrating the Louisiana Purchase: The 1904 World’s Fair
- Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress Exposition, 1933-1934
A noteworthy site with an impressive number of fair-related links
- Circus Historical Society
- Circus in America, The: 1793-1940. A definitive circus history website
- CircusMuseum.nl, large collection of historic circus posters depicting jugglers, freaks, acrobats, etc.
- Coney Island Museum’s postcard collection
- Defunct Amusement Parks
- Ed’s Circus Postcards - Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus postcards
- Johnny Eck Museum, documenting the life of Johnny Eck(hardt), a legless sideshow performer
- Ken’s Classic Coaster Postcards, roller coaster postcards
- List of Circuses, 1930-1939
- Meet Me at the Fair, the Lake County (Illinois) fair as seen in vintage postcards
- National Carousel Association, The - Impressive database searchable by state or province, defunct carousels, an inventory of classic carousels from the late 1800s through the 1960s, a map, and information on European and Australian carousels
- National Fairground Archive searchable image database at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Oceanview Amusement Park
- Panama-California Exposition: San Diego, 1915-1916, from The San Diego Historical Society
- phreequeshow, well documented and profusely illustrated, dedicated to those who performed in circus “freak shows”
- Quasi-Modo: Extensive research and photographs of what’s described as “freaks of nature, human oddities…and circus and carnival sideshow performers.”
- Roller Coaster World: Roller Coasters and Amusement Parks, including a vintage postcards reference section
- Sideshow World
- Sword Swallowers
- World’s Fairs and Exhibitions - Alphabetical List of World’s Fairs by City
- Collecting Supplies and Price Guides:
- Holiday Postcard Collections:
- Notable Archives and Postcard Collections:
- Australia Postcards and Picture Galleries, an interesting selection of vintage and contemporary Australian postcards
- Boston Public Library Postcard Collection
- The Carl Link Postcard Collection, 1904-1960, with an emphasis on c. 1920s postcards. See also the larger Dickinson Research Center collection, which is part of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
- Curt Teich Postcard Archives - The world’s largest public postcard collection (over 365,000 postcards cataloged), and one of the largest collections of roadside America postcards, including Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway
- Digital Past, searchable database of Illinois postcards and ephemera
- Early Postcards of India and Ceylon, 1900-1920
- Florida Postcard Collection, The - Miami area views highlighted in a presentation from the Special Collections Division of the University of Miami Libraries
- Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, nearly 1,000 vintage postcards
- “Greetings from the Country”: The University of Washington Libraries Postcard collection, emphasizing the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Alaska
- Hilda’s Cuban Postcards Museum
- Historic Opera Postcards
- Historical Postcards of Singapore - People, Places and Buildings
- Horse Racing Postcard Museum
- Japan:
- Art of the Japanese Postcard: The Lauder Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Hans Gruen Collection, The
- Old Tokyo - Vintage Images from Japan
- Lighthouse Postcards - Searchable database at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
- Maude Fealy Postcard Gallery
- Moody Medical Library, containing over 5,200 postcards which document changing styles in hospital architecture from the turn of the century to the present. Part of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)
- National Postal Museum: America’s History in the Mail
- Old Istanbul Postcards
- Old Postcards from Brazil
- Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920: Over 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies and over 300 color photolithograph prints in this Library of Congress collection. Search by keywords or subject
- Postcards about Photography
- Postcards from the Road, a roadside Americana collection
- Postcards of British India
- Postcards of Palestine
- Postcards of the Mexican Revolution, including information on Guerra Photography
- Postcards of the University of Michigan, including a history of the picture postcard and the postcard collecting craze
- Postcard Views of Tornadoes, 1907-1930
- Propaganda Postcards of the Great War
- Russia:
- Early St. Petersburg, Russia in Postcards
- Images of St. Petersburg, Russia:
- - 1900-1917
- - 1918-1941
- Russian Postcards of the 1920s-1930s
- Strobridge Calendar Cards at the University of Cincinnati
- Tacky Postcard Archive, The: Preserving the bad taste of our era for future generations
- Ukrania:
- Ukraine Postcards - Stunning advertising, comic, folk art, holiday, propaganda and women’s history examples
- Old Postcards from the Ukraine
- Ukranian Postcards, historical perspective
- Zwerdling Nursing Archives: Postcards of Nursing
- Other Useful Links:
- Advanced Philatelic Glossary
- American Picture Palaces
- Bota Cancels, from Japan
- Brief History of the Carte de Visite, with splendid examples from The American Museum of Photography
- Christmas Seals:
- Collecting Christmas Seals
- Story of Christmas Seals, The
- Complete List of Fraternal Organizations:
- A thru L
- M thru Z
- Currency Converter
- Ephemera Society of America, The
- Glossary of Stamp Collecting Terms
- Greenwich Mean Time
- Jackson’s International Auctioneers & Appraisers
- Lighthouse Explorer Database
- Martindale’s Language & Translation Center
- Memory Archive, an oral history wiki website allowing anyone to record memories of significant historial events, people and places
- Mezzofanti: Free Translation Site
- Perpetual Calendar, The: A Helpful Tool to Postal Historians
- Postal History Stationery Society, The
- Precancel Stamp Society, The
- Roman Numeral and Date Conversion
- Ship Names, searchable database of ships depicted on postcards
- Swann Auction Galleries
- Victorian and Edwardian Photographs, including information on the Marion code to help date c. 1859-1908 Carte de Visite (CDV) and cabinet cards
- Victorian Floriography (The Language of Flowers)
- Postcard Artists:
- Artist Index of late 19th c. and early 20th c. illustrators, many of whom illustrated postcards
- Bem, Elisabeth - Elisabeth Bem (1843-1914) - Russian postcard artist noted for over 300 images of children during holidays and her use of folkloric motifs
- Boileau, Philip - The Philip Boileau Collectors’ Society: Information on important Canadian postcard artist Philip Boileau, including many images. Also see a Boileau biography.
- Boriss, Margret - Margret Boriss, a sampling
- Caspari, Gertrud - Gertrud Caspari: German children’s book illustrator and postcard artist (1873-1948). See also a biography of Caspari
- Chambi, Martin - Martin Chambi, South American photographer
- Clapsaddle, Ellen - The Art of Ellen Clapsaddle. See also Ellen H. Clapsaddle, 1865-1934
- Goodman, Maud - Maud Goodman
- Hulak, V. - V. Hulak, Ukranian folk artist and illustrator of over 350 stylized, early 20th century Ukranian postcards
- Hutaf, August - August Hutaf
- King, Hamilton - Hamilton King - Examples of “Hamilton King Girls” (pretty ladies or “glamour girls”)
- Marquez, Luis - The Postcards of Luis Marquez: Mexican folklore and history in 20th century art postcards, documented by scholar Susan Toomey Frost
- Mucha, Alphonse - Alphonse Mucha biography; the Mucha Foundation; and the Mucha Museum
- Nister, Ernest - Ernest Nister and Nister Greeting Cards
- Nyström, Jenny - Jenny Nyström
- Schmucker, Samuel - Samuel L. Schmucker: America’s best postcard artist from the Golden Age of postcards (1898-1915); more information on a Schmucker exhibit; and Samuel L. Schmucker: The Discovery of His Lost Art, including a biography
- Shackleton, Kathleen - Kathleen Shackleton, produced a series of 48 postcards of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) employees in the 1940s
- Tarrant, Margaret - Margaret Tarrant
- Vargas, Alberto - Alberto Vargas, king of the pin-up illustrators
- Vasiliev, Andrey - Andrey Vasiliev (1909-1959), Moscow postcard artist. See one of his images on this Christmas postcard page
- Wain, Louis - Catland: An Introduction to Louis Wain. See also: An exhibit chronicling how Wain’s art changed due to schizophrenia, and Wain’s World: The illustrator who changed how people view cats
- WomenIllustrators.com - Well researched site, profusely illustrated, chronicling the lives and artistic styles of such noted female postcard artists as Mabel Lucie Attwell, Frances Brundage, Clara M. Burd, Bessie Pease Gutmann, Henriette Willebeek Le Mair, Rose C. O’Neill, Ida Outhwaite and Margaret W. Tarrant
- Postcard History:
- A Brief History of Large Letter Postcards
- Curteich Printing Process, The
- Disneyana:
- Disneyland postcard serial numbers
- Disneyland Postcards, a history
- Visit to Yesterland, A - The Discontinued Disneyland
- Walt Disney World: A History in Postcards
- Early AIDS Awareness postcards, an unusual postcard topic from Great Britain
- Early Maximum Cards of Mexico: Stamps Copied from Real Photo Postcards, with information on photographers Rodolfo Mantel and Mauricio Yañez as well as the Exclusivos Julio company, from author Susan Toomey Frost
- Exaggeration and Novelty Fruit Postcards
- Family in a Shoebox, a charming story illustrating how family history and genealogy can be traced through old postcards
- Glossary of Postcard Terms
- Grading Postcards, Postcard Preservation & Postcard Terminology
- Greetings from the Smithsonian: A Postcard History of the Smithsonian Institution
- Historic Postcards of Women
- History of Phonocards (Phonograph Record Postcards) - E.P.I., Louis Boduin, Marxen-Singola, Musika, Raphael Tuck, Weco and Zonophon, researched by Birgit-Lotz-Verlag
- History of Postcards from an American perspective
- A History of Theatre Postcards
- Hold to Light Postcards:
- Description of Hold to Light Postcards
- Hold to Light Postcards
- Hold-to-Light Opera Postcards
- Important Events in Postcard History
- Japan’s Postcard History
- Mainzer Dressed Cats Postcards
- Maximum Cards and Maximaphily
- Maximum Cards in Medicine
- Origins of the Official Post Card
- Penny Postcards by State
- Photo-Mounts - Explanation and examples of real-photo Photo-Mount postcards (also known as add-ons)
- PHQ (Postal Headquarters) Postcards
- Pioneer Aviation Postcards
- Playing Cards on Postcards
- QSL Cards:
- Ham Gallery QSL Museum, a collection of QSL cards from around the world
- QSL Card, a brief description
- QSL Values and POMA Values
- Saint Anne postcards
- Saint Catherine postcards
- Silk Postcards:
- All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go: Novelty Cards of People in Silk & Embroidery
- Embroidered Silk Postcards
- Stevengraphs, Victorian silk postcards. See also Stevengraphs Bookmarks & Postcards and Other Silk Manufacturers
- Tall Tale or Exaggeration Postcards:
- Exaggeration Postcards from the Nebraska State Historical Society
- Johnson, Alfred Stanley - Novelty Postcards of Alfred Stanley Johnson: Nicely done explanation of the photographic process used to create Johnson’s tall tale real photo postcards
- Martin, William H. - “Did You Ever Have a Dream Like This?” - William H. Martin’s tall tale real-photo postcards
- World in a Postcard, The: An essay on the postcard’s cultural significance in the 20th century and its future in the Digital Age
- Postcard Newsgroups
- alt.collecting.postcard - Post directly to the Internet from this alt-news.net link or subscribe to the newsgroup via the Usenet service provided by your ISP
- The Postcard List, subscription information and the FAQ
- Postcard Photographers and Publishers
- Abbott Drug Company, sodium penthothal advertising postcards
- Bates Color Cards, a 1930s-1940s Hawaiian postcard publisher
- Bellwald - J. M. Bellwald (1871-1945), Luxembourg, and a checklist of Bellwald images
- Bermuda Postcard Publishers
- Brehme, Hugo - Brehme’s Picturesque Mexico - Detailed biographical information on photographer Brehme from Susan Toomey Frost. See also Hugo Brehme: Postcards from Mexico - Susan Toomey Frost on this master photographer’s 20th century Mexican real-photo postcards, including the identification thereof
- California Photographers
- Davis, A. M. of Boston - Publisher of holiday postcards. See also Christmas Postcards by the A. M. Davis Co.
- Doubleday, Ralph R. - Rodeo and western Americana photographer
- Fortier, Edmund - Edmund Fortier, photographer and publisher of Western Africa postcards, 1900-1910
- Frasher, Burton - Burton Frasher’s real photo postcards of the American West, 1920-1950. See also larger holdings and a searchable Frasher database at the Pomona Public Library’s “Frashers Fotos Collection”
- Guatemalan Postcard Photographers: Susan Toomey Frost on Emilio and Roberto Eichenberger, Alberto Valdeavellano, Adolfo Biener, G. Hurter, Joaquin Francisco Muñoz, Lionel Stein, Pablo Sittler and Byron Zadik & Co. Well researched and profusely illustrated
- Hawaii Picture Postcard Publishers - Documentation of over 200 Hawaiian postcard publishers from the early 1900s up to about 1990
- Livermore & Knight, advertising postcard publishers
- Olds, Harry Grant, American expatriate postcard photographer in late 19th c. and early 20th c. Brazil
- Palestine Postcard Publishers
- Postcard Catalogue of Southern Africa, documenting publishers including J. Barnett & Co.; Braune & Levy; Sallo Epstein; R. O. Fusslein; GB & Co. (G. Budricks); Hallis & Co.; the Newman Art Publishing Co.; Paul Schaefer & Co. (PS & C); A. Rittenberg; the South African Photo & Stereo Company (SAPSCO); and Valentine
- Postcard Publishers, Printers and Distributors - An impressive and extensive alphabetized and illustrated list of publishers, often including dates of activity and publishers’ logos
- Reutlinger, Charles, Emile and Leopold - The Reutlinger Studios of Paris, France
- Rotograph Postcard Company
- Runyon, Robert - Robert Runyon, South Texas border photographer, 1900-1920
- Silver Bay Postcards: Photographers and Publishers
- Tuck, Raphael - Raphael Tuck & Sons, Postcard Publishers
- Valentine - James Valentine & Sons Ltd., postcard publishers
- Verlag, Ross - Checklist of Ross Verlag Movie Star Postcards
- Weidner, Charles - Charles Weidner (1866-1940), San Francisco photographer and postcard publisher
- Wootten, Bayard - Bayard Wootten, pioneer Southern photographer
- Professional Organizations
- Roadside America:
- American Motels: Postcards from the Era of the Open Road
- Dixie Highway, The: Route 31
- Drive-Ins.com, a definitive resource for drive-In information
- Florida’s Lost Tourist Attractions
- Groceteria, a history of the American supermarket
- Highway Route Markers, with a useful pictorial guide to 1940s State Highway Markers
- Historic California U.S. Highways
- Historic Context of the Dixie Highway, The
- Just Passin’ Through, The Lincoln and Victory Highways in Nevada
- Lincoln Highway, The: An Introduction to America’s First Transcontinental Road for the Automobile
- Lincoln Highway Association, The: Route 30
- Malls of America, blog chronicling lost shopping malls of the 1950s-1970s
- Motel Americana: Postcards from the Road
- Motels of the Southwest
- National Historic Route 66 Federation
- North American Auto Trails: Marked Auto Trails of the United States and Canada, 1910-1930
- The Pennsylvania Turnpike, America’s First Superhighway
- Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, The
- Primarily Petroliana and Automobilia
- Roadside America
- Roadside Architecture, a profusely illustrated site documenting diners, drive-in movie theaters, Greyhound bus stations, wigwams and teepees and more
- Roadside Peek - Great resource for the lover of roadside America! Route 66, roadside vernacular architecture, coffee shops, motels, neon signs - you name it, they’ve got it.
- Roadside Photos, a noteworthy collection of roadside images including motels and classic signage along Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, Route 40 and other highways
- Route 40: Frank Brusca’s Seminal Work
- Route 66 Photo Albums
- Route 80: The Dixie Overland Highway
- Route 90: The Old Spanish Trail
- Sleeping in a Wigwam: The Wigwam Village Motels
- Society for Commercial Archeology, The - National organization devoted to the buildings, artifacts, structures, signs and symbols of the 20th-century commercial landscape
- Touring the 1930s American Roadscape - Roadside Americana gas stations, eateries, tourist courts and motels, as seen in vintage postcards
- U.S. Highways from Route 1 to Route 830
- U.S. Route 6 Tourist Association: The Roosevelt Highway (the Midland Trail)
- U.S. Highway 90, postcards from the “Southern Route 66”
- Valentine Diners, a history
- Vintage Vegas Postcard Museum
- Wigwam Nation, mapped locations of roadside wigwam architecture including motels, restaurants and gas stations
- The Yellowstone Trail, 1912-1930: The Route That Opened the Northwest to Automobile Tourists
|
|
Copyright © 2000-2008 VintagePostcards.org All rights reserved. No part of our website publication may be used, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without our prior permission.
For collectors of vintage postcards, old postcards and the antique postcard. Deltiology, the hobby of collecting vintage postcards, is one of the fastest-growing collectibles hobbies. Old postcard collections interest collectors of antiques, memorabilia and ephemera; collectables such as old vintage postcards are used by museums and historians to document what was.
|
|
|
|
 "Los Angeles California Alligator Farm")
 "Hammondsport NY Curtiss Motorcycle")
 "Sergei Solomko Russia Fantasy Bird Woman")
 "Roller Derby Johnny Rosasco Kitty Nehls")