Pope Pius XII & 9th National Eucharistic Congress

This linen postcard of Pope Pius XII commemorated the 9th National Eucharistic Congress held at St. Paul - Minneapolis in June 1941. The pope did not atttend the Congress but spoke over the radio to those assembled for the Congress.

Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, was appointed Vatican Secretary of State in 1930. In 1936 he toured a number of cities in the United States. The trip covered about eight thousand miles in seven days, mainly by chartered plane.

Paul Bunyan at Escanaba Smelt Jamboree

This 1940 linen postcard shows Paul Bunyan and Sourdough Sam with Paul's Smelt Fryin Pan at the Escanaba Smelt Jamboree.

Smelt are small slender fish with silvery bellies. Smelt ascend tributary streams from the Great Lakes to spawn. Nets are used to dip the smelt from the streams. A 1941 release from the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service describes the smelt as "one of the most delicious of pan fishes, the flesh being lean and sweet with a particularly delicate flavor."

Escanaba's first Smelt Jamboree was in 1935. Time Magazine had an April 18, 1938 article "Smelt v. Tourists" describing the fourth Escanaba Smelt Jamboree. Twenty thousand tourists reportedly attended. Events included a Smeltiana comic opera, coronation of a a Smelt King and Queen, banquets, smelt-eating contests, a parade, and bonfire.

Large smelt runs appear to be a thing of the past. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has current information on "Smelt Dipping Opportunities." The smelt dipping season is mid-April to early May, depending on temperatures and location.

Maps of Keweenaw & Upper (Northern) Peninsula, Michigan

Here are some linen postcards showing the location of Michigan's Upper Northern Peninsula and the Keweenaw Peninsula at its northern tip (the area of record snowfalls described in the previous post). Maps of localized areas such as these are an interesting and educational subcategory within the maps category and are less common than maps showing entire states.

Record Snowfall--Keweenaw County

The Keweenaw Peninsula, the most northern part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, averages more snowfall than anywhere in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The large snowfalls in this area are attributed to a "lake effect" of storms crossing Lake Superior.

These postcards show the sign recording what was once their record snowfall: 294.5 inches in 1964-1965. This record has since been surpassed a number of times. The current record of 390.4 inches was set in 1978-1979. Average snowfall is 241.9 inches. The 2007-2008 snowfall through March 26 was 258.2 inches with 34 inches on the ground.

Boring Postcard from Wahoo

There are two types of boring postcards: interesting boring and boring boring. I enjoy collecting the kind of boring postcards that are not really boring (at least to me). Of course, which category a boring postcard belongs in is a matter of personal preference. After spending several hours last week searching through a collection of 11,000 boring postcards, I ended up buying about 65. One of them is this Wahoo, Nebraska postcard that I consider to be a real gem among boring postcards.

A couple of years ago I reviewed the book Boring Postcards USA. I recently found some newer blog entries on the subject of "boring postcards" by michael5000. Included was a list of what makes a boring postcard collectible.

The Wahoo postcard has many fine boring features:

• An unusually poor framing of the scene


• A politically incorrect pun: "Home of good Indians / we say this without a reservation."


• A teepee-shaped "A" in WAHOO


• Boosterish claim to be a "City of Opportunity"


• Claim to fame as the "Home of Five Famous Men" that most people have never heard of and whose names are almost illegible on the postcard


• Added afterthought "Future home of Youthland USA" (Has anyone ever heard of that?)

Wahoo's website has a list of Fun Facts about Wahoo. First on the list is that "Wahoo has been the Home Office of the Late Show with David Letterman since March 1996." Wahoo is still claiming to be the home of Five Famous Men. Although the five men were alive in 1967 when this postcard was mailed, the last one died nearly twenty years ago.

For a recent version of the Wahoo sign, see The famous men of Wahoo.

The WAHOO "A"

Florida Weather

Comparing Florida weather to weather "up north" was a popular topic on Florida postcards of the linen era. Some of the other postcards in this category compare picking oranges to throwing snowballs, water skiing to snow skiing, or sun to ice.

Actually it has been known to snow in Florida, but not very often. There was one of the rare snow events this week. The Associated Press reported on January 3, 2008: "Flurries fell across the Sunshine State today, but it appeared that growers were spared the deep freeze they feared would devastate the nation’s citrus supply."

Wikipedia has a list of other snow events in Florida.

A Happy New Year Postcard 1908 & 2008

Year date postcards were most common during the years 1908-1910. This 1908 year date New Year postcard was published by the Rotograph Co., N. Y. City. It is a "Real Photograph on bromide paper."

The sender of this card apologized for this "postal" being "not very pretty" and not getting around to sending the card in time for New Year (it was postmarked Feb. 6). She also wrote: "This card is a mix up." I'm not sure what she meant by that. Possibly this refers to the fact that the back is printed upside down relative to the front.


I had some fun playing with this postcard in Photoshop. By isolating the last two digits of 1908 and making a duotone, I was able to create a new postcard design suitable for 2008: