May 4-10 marks National Postcard Week in the United States.
Before Snapchat or even the telephone (in 1910, fewer than 10 percent of United States households had a telephone), people used postcards to share information about their vacations and families and to arrange meet-ups with friends a few blocks away.
Although humans have communicated with written and pictorial information on cards for centuries, the small rectangular card sent through the mail without an envelope evolved with the photograph in the mid-19th century.
Famed printer Curt Teich lived in Glencoe and printed many postcards featuring Highland Park and its landscapes and tourist attractions.
In Highland Park, professional and enthusiast photographers and printers created postcards sold in stores and hotels and for personal use.
Highland Park’s Brand Brothers Studios produced many beautiful cards that document the community.
At times, postcards are clearly homemade with a vernacular charm like those created by lifetime Highland Parker Howard Flinn.
Messages written on postcards provide glimpses into lives a century ago, especially 1910-1920, considered the golden age of post cards.
Boo Rah Rah.
Nancy Webster is the archivist at the Highland Park Historical Society. This article was written using resources in the society’s Archives and Research Collections funded in part by Henry X Arenberg Archives Preservation Fund. Visit highlandparkhistory.com for more information.
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