“A Souvenir for Grandmother” – Rudisheim, Germany (1924)

We met Robert Zecher in an earlier postcard story, “Robert Sends a Postcard to Grandmother”.

In that story, Robert had graduated with many honors from Franklin & Marshall College, and was spending the summer in Europe.

Mr. Zecher grew up in the historic city of Lancaster, PA – where his father (Walter E. Zecher) was President of the Lancaster County National Bank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Pennsylvania

The postcards are addressed to Mrs. G. B. Cummings who lived on University Avenue in New York City.

(Mrs. Cummings was Robert’s maternal grandmother.)

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The face of the postcard is a hand-colored photograph of Rudisheim – formally, “Rudisheim am Rhein”

The town is now a much-visited UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a center of the wine-making.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCdesheim_am_Rhein

Here, we see that the Rhine is bordered by railroad tracks – like many pretty towns of the Hudson River Valley in New York State that are “cut off” from the water.

A pleasant array of restaurants and shops line the main street; a horse-drawn cart shares the road with pedestrians.

A variety of small sailing craft are moored near the town.

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On the reverse, Robert addresses “Dear Grandma” and reports, “this is the town on the Rhine where we stopped three days ago.”

The party has now moved on to Baden Baden, “… a fashionable summer resort on the edge of the Black Forest.”

The postcard was mailed from Baden Baden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-Baden

I don’t know if Grandmother collected postage stamps, but the German stamps are missing.

I cannot find a publisher’s mark, but am certain that the postcard was printed in Germany.

Robert concludes his message with “Love to all”.

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I am not sure how long Robert remained in Europe; I have one additional postcard that was sent to Grandmother.

We will hear more about Mr. Zecher – he entered graduate school at Columbia University and sent postcards related to that adventure.

Readers of these stories may recall that this story has a sad end:  after completing successfully many projects, Robert assumed the Presidency of the Bank upon the death of his father.

He married Myrtle Litch and lived in the Glen Moore neighborhood of Manheim Township.

Alas, Robert died suddenly in 1942 at the age of 37.

https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/robert-cummings-zecher-24-qv392w

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