History in the Mail

Postcards and Historic Papers

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“Bess Announces the Baby Boy” – Somerville, Massachusetts (1912)

March 30, 2026 No Comments

There is a tragic backstory to this postcard greeting – the recipient had died in childbirth before this announcement of another birth reached her. Mrs.

Bess Sends Greetings from Odebolt – circa 1908

August 21, 2023 No Comments

Miss Minnie Petersen (possibly, Pedersen) lived in Rapidan, a community in Blue Earth County of south-central Minnesota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapidan_Township,_Blue_Earth_County,_Minnesota Sometime near 1908 (the postmark is obliterated),

Bess Will Come in Her Racing Auto – Newville, PA (1909)

December 9, 2022 No Comments

This comic postcard, depicting a tramp “driving” a dilapidated toy auto, was mailed to Mrs. Frank Oiler in August of 1909. Mrs. Oiler lived in