Evolution of the Piano

 

The Evolution of the Piano postcard above is circa 1910/1911. It advertises R. K. Maynard Piano Company of Chicago pianos and player pianos with "Quality High" and "Price Low." To me, the message is "Buy one of our pianos and your home will look as cultured and elegant as the one in this picture." There appears to be quite a bit of artistic license involved. Why would the woman (whether mother or teacher) be wearing a dress with a train? What time of the day is it? I would expect a child's lesson to be in the afternoon, when the "father" in the background would be at work making money to support this lifestyle. I wondered, also, whether the picture above the piano was meant to represent a specific type of instrument and/or famous composer.

Chicago became a major player in piano manufacturing during the 19th century. Little is known now about the Maynard Piano Company. It appears on a list of Piano Manufacturers in Illinois with a date of 1905. A 1910 ad from the The Music Trade Review gives locations for both offices and factory. From what I could find on the internet, however, it was not clear whether Maynard was actually a manufacturer. One source said that "Popular pianos bearing this name are from the factory of the Werner Piano Co., Chicago, Ill." Another source said that "The hugely successful M. Schulz Piano Company manufactured and sold pianos under the names of Walworth, Bradford, Irving, and Maynard in addition to their premier line of M. Schulz brand pianos." 

The real photo postcard below shows a woman sitting at a piano in a more modest looking environment. There is no information available on this postcard. The piano top was a popular place to display pictures. I enlarged the area with the pictures to show their details and variety..

The video on the Evolution of the Piano shows some of the early instruments that preceded the modern acoustic piano and ends with Kurzweil digital pianos.

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Pour Moi?

This postcard fits in a topic that I have especially enjoyed collecting in the last few years, what I call "Writing Reminders." It is labeled Victoria Series and is printed and published in England.

To me, this postcard looks like it is about 50 years older than the 1959 date stamp on the back would indicate. I am wondering whether another collector has information that could date this card. I often have trouble dating English postcards, because they are so different from American postcards. Also, sometimes there are date stamps on postcards that relate to a date in a collection rather than the date of original publication.

Travel Ambitions

 

This advertising postcard was used by Security Trust Company of Lexington, Kentucky in May 1910. Monthly calendar advertising postcards were fairly common from about 1909 to 1914. They were used mainly by banks and home furnishing companies. The calendar was sometimes on the front, and sometimes on the back of the card. This design was probably used by other banks as well.

The advertising message was in the form of a letter from a bank officer dated May 1st:

Dear Friend

   The greatest unsatisfied ambition of  the World is to travel. Without money travel is a locked door. Systematic saving will soon provide you with the funds to unlock the door.

   Travel is knowledge and knowledge is power. A little saved every week soon grows into a surplus large enough to enable you to visit the places so often described in song and story.

   Let us be your depository while creating this travel fund. Your money will accumulate at compound interest.

   Start the account today.

The bottom right side of the card indicates that it is "COPY'T '09 CHAMPION & PUTNAM CHI" (Chicago). The Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1910 Engravings, Prints Etc. Fine Arts has this entry:

[1431-1442
Nos. 1-12. [Advertising cards.] ©
Dec. 15, 1909 ; 2 c. each Dec. 17, 1909 ;
K 4990-5001.

The back has an engraving of the Security Trust Building, and someone has found space to write a personal note.

 

 

Here is an enlarged view of the Security Trust Company building from the back of the postcard:

The Security Trust Building at 269-275 West Short Street in downtown Lexington, Kentucky was the home of the Security Trust & Safety Vault Company. The following information about the building is from UrbanUp:

Construction on the Beaux-Arts Baroque-styled tower began in 1904 by the Hendricks Bros. Company in an unusual manner. A five story section of the building was erected at the corner of Short and Mill streets, and when the western wing was completed, the bank relocated from the Rowe-designed building into the partially finished tower. The old bank building was then demolished and replaced with the eastern wing of the building, and then an additional three stories were added to the top of both wings. The entire building was finished in 1905 and was Lexington’s tallest structure. Interior features included prismatic glass blocks in the sidewalk to partially light the basement, white enameled brick in the interior lightwell to reflect light into the center of the tower and the flexibility of office space on the upper floors.

Here is a Google view of the building from May 2012. I was unable to determine the current status of the building. UrbanUp reported that a restoration proposal was denied in 2010 due to inappropriate materials in the proposal.

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Minnesnowta

 

Today we are having a temporary reprieve from the extreme cold we have had for most of January. More extreme temperatures are expected by next Monday, however. 

The postcard above has a wind chill factor chart showing how cold the temperature feels at various combinations of actual temperature and wind speed. The National Weather Service has more information about wind chill along with a downloadable chart and brochure here.

The next postcard probably needs some explanation for those not familiar with cold weather. It is kind of a joke that a tongue will freeze and stick to a metal post when the temperature is below zero, but it can actually happen. At "forty below it just doesn't matter" whether the temperature scale is Fahrenheit or Celsius because at that point both are the same number. For conversions between Fahrenheit and Celsius at other points, see the chart here.

Saint Paul Outdoor Sports Carnival

This postcard advertises the 1917 Saint Paul Outdoor Sports Carnival. Winter carnivals were held in St. Paul from 1886 through 1889, in 1896, and again in 1899. After that, they stopped until 1916 and 1917 when winter carnivals were revived by carnival chairman Louis W. Hill, son of the Empire Builder James J. Hill (source: He built an empire of his own).

The slogan for 1916 was "Make It a Hot One," and the slogan for 1917 was '"Make It a Hotter One."  The 1917 carnival included a national ski tournament with a cross country run and jumping contests.Other events included world's championship speed-skating races, fancy skating exhibitions, hockey games, a curling playoff, horse races, and motor-sled races. A featured event  was a dog-sled race from Winnipeg to St. Paul — a distance of over 500 miles.

Ragnar Omtvedt of Chicago won the national ski tournament held at St Paul Minn Jan 29-30, 1917 after a close contest with Henry Ball of Steamboat Springs, Col . Omtvedt made jumps of 112 and 115 feet, while Hall jumped 113 and 114 feet, but the former was awarded the title for the better form of his leaps. The following article is from The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year Book for 1918..., Volume 34

 

The Saint Paul Winter Carnival is still a popular local event. The dates for 2014 are January 23 to February 2.

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The Pink of Perfection

This postcard is "The Pink of Perfection" (highest perfection) for me. I like collecting "postcards about postcards," postcards about correspondence (e.g. "why don't you write?), and cards about postal (e.g. mail and postage stamps) subjects.

What really impressed me about this postcard is that the image of the postcard on the picture side matches the style of the postcard back. "The Pink of Perfection" was a trademark of the Fairman Co. of Cincinnati and New York.  

The word pink has a double meaning here. The flower pictured is the pink. I was surprised to learn that the color pink name came from the flower, and not vice versa:

The evolution of the word "pink" is interesting in its own right. Plants of Colonial Days (1959) states that pinks derived their name from pinksten or pfingsten, the German name for flowers that bloomed at Pentecost, or Whitsuntide. Other sources say that the word pink comes from the "pinked" or jagged edge of the petals, as though cut by pinking shears. In either case, it appears the idea of "pink" as a color did not occur until much later, for the color was named for the flowers rather than the other way around. In the eighteenth century, flowers were described as blush, pale red, rose, light red, flesh-colored, or carnation -- never pink. (source)

 The postcard was sent to Martha Umbach, Benedict, N. Dak in 1914. Although I am not a genealogist, I couldn't resist searching for the recipient of the postcard. In the 1910 census, I found that there was a Martha S. Umbach (aged 13) living in Andrews township (which includes Benedict), McLean County, North Dakota. (source)

I am intrigued by the message on the back of the card: "We are thrashing now. My photos are not through yet. Will be through Sunday." I believe the writer is referring to threshing grain. Wheat was a top agricultural product of North Dakota, and possibly the photos are of the threshing operation--something I speculated about in a post last week here. This is an example of North Dakota threshing photos from the Library of Congress:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012646379/

WWI Views of U. S. Army

AERO SQUAD, U. S. AVIATION SERVICE
U. S. MOTORCYCLE CORPS, SHOWING ARMOURED MOTORCYCLE WITH MACHINE GUN

U. S. ARMY MOTOR TRUCKS
U. S. FIELD ARTILLERY READY FOR ACTION

Y. M. C. A. AUDITORIUM
INTERIOR OF Y. M. C. A.

MESS HALL
BATTALION DRILL

MACHINE GUNS READY FOR ACTION
THREE INCH GUN IN ACTION

LOADING A FOUR POINT SEVEN SIEGE GUN
REPAIRING U. S. ARMY FIELD GUN

The twelve views above of the U. S. Army are from a folder postcard that is missing its cover. The folder was probably published by Curt Teich. ( I saw some identical views on individual postcards published by Curt Teich online, but could not find an example of the complete folder.) 

If  the Army views views can be considered "before" images of the horrors of war, the cartoon postcard below can be considered an "after" image. It has a cartoon by Clare Briggs, an early American comic strip artist.  One of his popular comic strips was “Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feelin'?”. The postcard was provided by the Knights of Columbus Committee on War Activities. It was written by a returning soldier, Pvt. Ed A Warner, to his mother in Minneapolis on May 28, 1919. He wrote "In America at last and feeling fine. Will be home toot sweet."

The postcard was sent via "Soldiers Mail" and postmarked in Newport News, Virginia on June 5, 1919. According to the information on the card, Pvt. Warner had arrived on the U. S. S. Aeolus and was going to Camp Dodge. He was a member of Co. G, Reg. 350th, Div. 88.

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