Postcards of Wauwatosa

The “Golden Age of Postcards” spanned the decade between 1905 and 1915. Almost all retail establishments, town or country, sold postcards. The revolving countertop postcard kiosk was invented in 1908, allowing customers to browse in a self-serve fashion. Department stores such as Wauwatosa’s Lefeber Brothers sent photographic negatives of local scenes to Germany, where postcards were produced by skilled lithographers. The local retailer was listed as the publisher, receiving acknowledgment and profits from the sales.

Postcard prices ranged from two to 25 cents in 1908. That year, more than 677 million postcards were mailed. The advent of World War I and tariffs ended the “Golden Age of Postcards” by 1915. Telephones offered an alternative to postcard messaging, and the postcard craze soon passed its prime.

With postcards no longer available from Germany during the war, printers in the United States hastened to meet demand. The white border was a way to reduce production costs. Printers in the United States were not as skilled and earned less than their counterparts overseas. Some deltiologists assert that the white border cards are of lesser quality than those produced in Europe. Still, their subtle colors and white borders are aesthetically pleasing to many contemporary collectors.

Real photo postcards became popular when Eastman-Kodak developed and aggressively marketed a postcard camera. Eager photographers armed with this new device traveled from town to town, documenting local features. It wasn’t unusual for those who could afford it to hire a photographer to take a family portrait in front of their home. Traveling photographers also recorded natural disasters, parades, and everyday events. 

Unlike those produced by the process of lithography, a real photo postcard is printed directly from a negative onto postcard stock. The preprinted card stock had designated space for an address and a postage stamp.

Curt Teich & Co., Chicago, was the most well-known manufacturer of linen postcards. Teich trademarked the “C.T. Art-Colortone” process in 1931. (Several other manufacturers, including E.C. Kropp Co. of Milwaukee, produced linen cards.) Linen-textured paper with a high rag content allowed the ink to dry quickly, accelerating the printing process. Most linen cards retained the white border, while some were colored to the edge.

Artists employed by the manufacturer retouched all linen-era photos before they were printed. Colors were enhanced by paintbrush, details dulled or sharpened, and unattractive features airbrushed into oblivion. Creativity and artistic license were crucial to the sale of these romanticized images. They were a pleasure to collect and send, and their heyday spanned 1931-1959. Today, the Newberry Library in Chicago houses more than a half-million Curt Teich postcards, the most extensive public collection in the United States.

Photochromes are the glossy-surfaced postcards in convenience stores and souvenir shops today. They were first produced in 1939 by Union 76 of California and given free of charge to customers who purchased gas or oil. Processed from Kodachrome or Ektachrome film, “chromes” present a realistic and detailed image, unlike linen-era cards. The heyday of modern photochromes was the 1950s-’60s, corresponding with the popularity of “road trips.” Most of today’s photochromes portray popular tourist destinations, like the Grand Canyon, with a space on the back to write, “Having a wonderful time… wish you were here…”