Mary Sends A Box of Oranges – Elizabethtown, PA (1914)

From the early 20th century, one can find an abundance of memorabilia celebrating the tropical bounty of Florida and California.

Visitors to these states marveled at the availability of delicious fruits throughout most of the year.

While most of the nation depended upon home-canned peaches and pears, the warmer states had oranges and grapefruit.

In May of 1914, Miss Barbara Hitz received at her home near Elizabethtown a postcard illustration of a box of oranges.

The postcard was mailed from Upland, California by Mary.

Mary suggests that the oranges look “pretty good”, and then goes on to describe how “nice and sweet” they are to eat.

It seems that Mary had traveled fo attend a meeting.

She notes that, “Conf. Is a thing of the past, there was quite…a crowd.”

Bennie (or Bonnie) Byer is ill; Mary suspects he has the flu.

One hopes that young Bennie recovered, that Mary continued to enjoy California, and that Barbara was pleased with her postcard.