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A Magnificent collection of digital images at high quality and high resolution for New Year,
Christmas, Birthday, and Blank Cards for any other Occasion.
Click here and send as many Ecards as you like.
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HISTORY OF POSTCARD (1915 - Present)
WHITE BORDER ERA (1915-1930)
When imports from Germany ceased in the first World War, the U.S. began printing postcards to fill the void;
unfortunately this also ended the "Golden Age" of postcards. After WWI, the German publishing industry was never rebuilt.
Other European publishers were forced out of the U.S. market by high tariff rates. Most locally available postcards
were printed by U.S. publishers during this period. On view postcards, to save ink, a white border was left around
the view, thus we call them "White Border" postcards. The higher costs of post-war publishing combined with inexperienced
labor caused production of poorer quality cards. "Movies" replaced postcards as a visual experience.
Higher competition in a rapidly narrowing market caused many publishers to go out of business. Real photo postcard publishers, on the other
hand, enjoyed great success. Various types of rotary drum negative imprinters allowed runs of 1000s of postcards of a
particular image. Roadside postcard racks contained a great variety of these images.
LINEN ERA (1930-1945)
In the 1930s, postcard printing in the United States improved. Publishers began using linen-like paper with a high rag
content. These types of cards are very popular with collectors today, particularly of the Roadside America, Blacks,
Comics, and Advertising genres.
New American printing processes allowed printing on postcards with a high rag content. This was a marked improvement over
the "White Border" postcard. The rag content also gave these postcards a textured "feel".
They were also cheaper to produce and allowed the use of bright dyes for image coloring. They proved to be extremely popular with raodside establishments
seeking cheap advertising. Linen postcards document every step along the way of the building of America's highway
infra-structure. Most notable among the early linen publishers was the firm of Curt Teich. The majority of linen postcard
production ended around 1939 with the advent of the color "chrome" postcard. However, a few linen firms (mainly southern)
published until well into the late 50s. Real photo publishers of black & white images continued to have success.
Faster reproducing equipment and lowering costs led to an explosion of real photo mass produced postcards. Once again a
war interferred with the postcard industry (WWII). During the war, shortages and a need for military personnel forced
many postcard companies to reprint older views WHEN printing material was available.
PHOTOCHROME ERA (1939 to present)
Photochromes (also known as Modern Chromes) first came into being in 1939. Their colors were particularly appealing
to collectors. The famous movie The Wizard of Oz affirmed America's love for color images. These "Chrome" postcards
started to dominate the scene soon after they were launched by the Union Oil Company in their western service stations
in 1939. They were easily produced, of high photo quality and most importantly, they were in color.
Their spread was
momentarily slowed down during WWII due to supply shortages, but they replaced both linen and black & white postcards
by 1945 in the roadside postcard racks. Linen firms converted to photochrome postcards or went out of business.
Black and white postcard firms merged with larger companies or disappeared.
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