Singer Sewing Machine Factory--Bridgeport, Connecticut

This postcard is the standard height of 3½ inches but is double width—11 inches. It was meant to be folded in half before mailing. Although unusual and uncommon, this size is usually ignored by postcard collectors.

When examining this card, I was intrigued by the fine print on the sides of the buildings. The buildings are named Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machines, not Singer. Wheeler and Wilson was founded in 1851 and moved in 1856 to Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the 1850s and 1860s Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines were the most popular. Eventually Singer sewing machines became more popular, and Singer bought out Wheeler and Wilson in 1905. Singer company history dates the opening of their Bridgeport factory as 1907.

An interesting account of early sewing machine manufacturing history is found on the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society (ISMACS) website. There is reproduced information and pictures from a 1873 tour of the Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine factory by a reporter. At that time the factory employed 6,000-7,000 in various capacities. The pictures are excellent views of workers at work with the manufacturing machines used at different stages of the manufacturing process.

SPAM Postcards

I am a postcard collector and graphic designer. I also like free stuff and popular culture, so I was thrilled when I found this Spam Museum brochure on a rack with ordinary brochures and flyers. It is printed on cardstock with perforations for removing the three postcards that make up the bottom 2/3 of this clever brochure.

This is the 70th anniversary of SPAM. You can learn about SPAM at www.spam.com . And there is a SPAM STORE with some more conventional SPAM postcards, as well as an awesome variety of other SPAM merchandise.

Embroidered WWI Patriotic Postcard, April 1917

Patriotic embroidered postcards, made in France, were popular souvenirs made for soldiers during WWI. This one is unusual in that has the month "April" as well as the year "1917." It features an American flag. Embroidered American flags seem to be much less common than British and French flags.

This embroidery on this postcard is quite faded, making it less valuable than a brightly colored card. It still is very clean and collectible, however. The embroidery is on cloth inserted between an embossed paper frame and a paper backing. The embossing on the frame consists of horseshoes in the corners and four-leaf clovers on the sides--two good luck symbols. On the back is printed "Fabrication Francaise."

More information on embroidered postcards:

Gabrian Silk Postcards

Propaganda Postcards of the Great War, Silks (embroidered postcards)

Love Tokens from the front