The use of the words "POST CARD" or "POSTCARD" (as one or two words) was first granted by the government to private printers on Dec. 24, 1901. Writing was not permitted on the address side. The publishing of printed postcards during this time frame doubled almost every six months. European publishers opened offices in the U.S. and imported millions of high quality postcards. By 1907, European publishers accounted for over 75% of all postcards sold in the U.S.
The Golden Age of postcards began when cards with a divided back were permitted on March 1, 1907. The address had to be written on the right side of the back of the postcard while the left side was reserved for writing messages. The style of the postcard can give us a clue to its age. |
The vogue of lithographed
cards soon caught Eastman-Kodak's attention. They produced an
affordable "Folding Pocket Kodak" camera around 1906. This allowed the
mass public to take black and white photographs and have them printed
directly onto paper with postcard backs. Various other models of Kodak
"postcard" cameras followed, igniting the photo postcard era. These
cameras shared two neat features: their negatives were postcard size (the
major reason why so many of these images are so clear) and they had a small
thin door on the rear of their bodies that, when lifted, enabled the
photographer to write an identifying caption or comment on the negative
itself with an attached metal scribe. Many of the Ambrose postcards
were taken with a Kodak "postcard" camera like the one pictured
here.