On December 24, 1901 the United States Postal Service approved the use of the words Post Card to be printed on the backs of privately printed postcards. This USPS change of 1901 allowed postcard publishers and printers to drop the message "Private Mailing Cards, Authorized by Act of Congress on May 19, 1898". Writing was still not permitted on the back and a 1 cent stamp was still required to mail a Post Card. By 1902, the postcard industry was off and running, and so was the hobby of collecting postcards.
One popular publisher in the early 1900s was The Albertype Company of Brooklyn, NY. The company was owned by Herman L. Wittemann and he published postcards from 1890 to 1952. Wittemann used a photo process invented by Austrian photographer Joseph Albert (1825-1886). His postcards used a special process. Photographs would be taken by Wittemann's representatives and he would arrange to use photographs taken by others.
Another popular publisher was The Rotograph Postcard Company located in New York City and Chicago. This company published as many as 60,000 postcards dealing with a variety of subjects ranging from scenic views of towns and cities to real photo's.
Both The Rotograph Postcard Company and The Albertype Company made postcards during the early "Post Card" period. As mentioned above writing was not permitted on the backs. To make their postcards attractive and appealing photographs of towns views were on the front. A small space usually at the bottom of the photograph was available for a short message. If you wanted to write a longer message a USPS Postal Card was used.
Post Card users loved to send home postcards from far away places they visited or exchange postcards with friends and family. By 1907 the United States Postal Service began to permit the use of what is now called a "divided back".
Glyn Farber has published a catalog of all known Hickey Brother Cigar Store Tokens and co-authored a book about Louisiana Trade Tokens. In addition he wrote several articles for The Token and Medal Society (TAMS) and The National Token Collectors Association (NTCA). Glyn has been a devoted collector of Louisiana Trade Tokens, Louisiana collectibles and Lake Charles, LA postcards for almost 40 years.
Find out more information about the Post Cards Era, Collectibles and Trade Tokens at his web sites http://www.most-popular-collectibles-at-auction.com and http://www.louisiana-trade-tokens.com
