Trees Poem

wooden postcard, 3/16" thick

A famous Trees poem , which has been widely reproduced, is printed on this wooden postcard:

I think that I shall never see
A Poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A Tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

The Trees poem was written by Joyce Kilmer in 1913. Joyce is usually a woman's name, and I pictured Joyce Kilmer as a middle-aged woman. However, Joyce Kilmer was actually a young man, who died a few years later during World War I.

The poem was later set to music and has been recorded by a number of artists, including the Platters.who recorded it in 1961.

This postcard was mailed from Tennessee in September, 1942 with the following message on the back:

How does it feel to be back on the job again?
Happy that Minn won again. Hope they beat Bierman's Cadets.
We spent all day hiking in the Smokies — very beautiful.

"Minn" refers to the University of Minnesota and "the Smokies" refers to The Great Smoky Mountains, a mountain range along the Tennessee-North Carolina border in the southeastern United States.

I was really puzzled by the reference to "Bierman's Cadets."  Bernie Bierman was a famous University of Minnesota Gophers football coach, so I didn't understand how Minnesota could beat his "Cadets."  I discovered that Bierman was the University of Minnesota football coach from  1932 to 1941 and from 1945 to 1950, but during World War II he served in the Armed Forces. In 1942, he was the coach of the Iowa Pre-Flight Cadets..The Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks represented the U.S. Navy pre-flight school at the University of Iowa in the college football seasons of 1942, 1943, and 1944.

I found a reference to the Minn vs. Iowa Cadets game in a Tulane University football program: "Picking anyone over the Gophers seems odd. It's a case of the teacher outsmarting the student. A shaky vote for Bernie Bierman's Cadets over his former team." The game was played on October 3 , and the Iowa Cadets beat the Minnesota Gophers 7-6.

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San Francisco Cable Car

This is one of San Francisco's famous CABLE CARS
on the turntable, ready to start up one of the
city's steep hills. It's fun . . . come on aboard!

This postcard is a thick cardboard cutout, size about 4" X 10". It was mailed from San Francisco in 1958 with the following message:

We rode on this over the hills and down to fisherman's wharf Thursday where we ate sea food and watched the fishing boats. Our air flight over the mountains was spectacular to see with peaks around and below us. The weather here is like spring - flowers blooming –

Fans & Flowers Greetings

Fans, often combined with flowers, were common motifs on early twentieth century greeting postcards. A fan shape could serve as background, frame, or both.

I even have two postcards in my "cat collection" that include fans.

 

 

Fans are most common on everyday and birthday greetings, but they are also found on holiday postcards.

Next, and last, is a novelty postcard made up of a variety of materials and add-ons.

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Map: Texas Shape Wooden Postcard

This Texas shape wooden postcard has a picture of the San Jacinto Monument, which is a 567.31-foot (172.92 m) high column. It is the tallest masonry column in the world and is topped by a star symbolizing the Lone Star State. The monument is a memorial to all those who fought to win the independence of Texas.

This card has the date Aug 15th 1943 written on the back. It required a 1-1/2 cent stamp for mailing, which was the third class rate for 2 ounces.

Map: Route 66 Kopper Kard

 

Arizona, The Copper State, is a storehouse of the wonders of nature. Mineral wealth, the Grand Canyon and other extraordinary scenery, and a mild climate are atttracting visitors and new residents by the thousands.

"A Card to be Treasured"
© by Kopper Kard Co., Salt Lake City, Utah.

Grow Your Own California Redwood

 

Today is National Arbor Day in the United States. National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times. Other countries that celebrate Arbor Day also do so on different dates.

The American Arbor Day originated in Nebraska in 1872. (Read about its history here). One of the traditional ways to celebrate Arbor Day is to plant a tree. This postcard is a "SEEDCARD" ©1966 with a packet of Genuine California Redwood Seeds. The card folds up for mailing. Inside the card there are planting instructions and information about redwoods.

Sunbonnet Girl Postcards

Here is a real photo postcard of a real girl in a sunbonnet that is obviously based on the fictional Sunbonnet Girls that were popular in the early twentieth century. Bertha L. Corbett is the artist credited with creating the original Sunbonnet Girls. Her drawings were first used on postcards in 1904. They earlier had appeared in books in 1900. Corbett first drew the Sunbonnet Girls to prove that it was not necessary to show the face in order to make a figure expressive.

This photo does show the girl's face peeking out of the bottom front of the bonnet. There appear to be some curls hanging out the back too.

The website sunbonnetsue.com has a reprint of a 1907 article about the origins of Corbett's Sunbonnets: The "Mother" of the Sun-Bonnet Babies. Other artists also drew Sunbonnets that were published on postcards. Below is a postcard with a Sunbonnet Girl in a pose similar to the photo. This is by the artist Bernhardt Wall. It was published by Bergman and dated 1913. According to the book "Picture Postcards in the United States 1893-1918 by George and Dorothy Miller: "After the height of the postcard craze, Wall redesigned a group of Sunbonnets against white backgrounds for the Bergman Company in an effort to recapture the popularity of the earlier cards, but the later designs never caught the public imagination."

Coincidentally, this leather postcard featuring a Sunbonnet with "Just a line" is from Minneapolis where Corbett originally created the Sunbonnet characters. I have seen leather postcards with other designs of fishing Sunbonnet Girls with a "line" from other locations or names added. Some are completely handmade like this one. Others have lettering (and possibly designs) that are machine printed.

 

 

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Christmas Wishes on Bookmark Size Postcards

Hang up Bright Holly,
Let's All be Jolly,
Drive Dull Care Away.
Through West and East
Make Merrie Feast.
Good Folks 'tis
Christmas Day.

 This Christmas Wish
With Love I Send
May Your Joys be many
Your Peace Ne'er End.  

Christmas
Righte Merrie may You be to-day.
The New Year bring Prosperity
and may you never along Life's Highway
chance upon Adversity.

These are some unusual Christmas postcards in a bookmark size 2-1/4" X 6". I love the Arts and Crafts style graphic designs on these cards. Bookmark postcards seem like a good idea, but the idea never was popular. Now one can't even send cards this size in the mail. All cards and letters must be at least 3-1/2" high (at least in the United states).

Post From London

The picture on this postcard is labeled London Types: The Postman. There is a small folder of 12 London views attached to the front of the postcard. When the folder is opened, the views fold out.

These are the views inside the folder: Whitehall, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Tower & Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Old Houses, Houses of Parliament, Traffic Duty at Ludgate Circus, Exchange & Bank, Cheapside, Looking E., and Queen Victoria Memorial.

The back of the postcard has instructions about the amount of postage needed with and without a written message. To get the lower rate, "Post Card" had be crossed out and Book Post marked in place of "Post Card."

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Cornell University Panorama

This is a four panel folding postcard showing a panoramic view of Cornell University as it looked about 100 years ago. This card measures 22-3/8" X 3-1/2" when open. The individual panels of the view are shown below.

Three of the back panels are blank, and one has spaces for the address and postage stamp. That side was for the address only.

The printing in the stamp box gives the postage rates and the name of the publisher, The Albertype Co.

Cornell University is a Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. The university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge—from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's motto, a popular 1865 Ezra Cornell quotation: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." This motto is included on the cornell University seal. (source: Wikipedia)

source: Wikipedia

There is a website with many vintage images of Cornell University here.

The location of Ithaca, New York is shown on this Google map.

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Apollo Lunar Missions

This is a lenticular 3D postcard showing a space walk. The description on the back is as follows:

At a speed of 5 miles per second 120 miles above the earth, the astronaut is connected to the spacecraft by a 25-foot long gold-plated umbilical line which provides communications and oxygen.

The stamp on this card commemorates the Apollo 11 first moon landing. This 10¢ air mail stamp was issued on September 9, 1969. The Cape Canaveral cancellation on April 14, 1970 relates to the Apollo 13 self rescue which is briefly described by the cachet stamped on the lower left.

Here is some information on the Apollo 13 mission from Wikipedia:

Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the Moon. The craft was successfully launched toward the Moon, but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell with John L. "Jack" Swigert as Command Module pilot and Fred W. Haise as Lunar Module pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for the original CM pilot Ken Mattingly, who was grounded by the flight surgeon after exposure to German measles.

The mission was launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST. Two days later an explosion crippled the service module upon which the Command Module depended. To conserve its batteries and the oxygen needed for the last hours of flight, the crew instead used the Lunar Module's resources as a "lifeboat" during the return trip to Earth. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17. NASA called the mission a "successful failure".

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog