The collecting of souvenir spoons, especially those made of silver, began in Europe among wealthy travelers of the mid-19th century.

The custom was adopted by US travelers of the Gilded Age whose new, industrial fortunes afforded the opportunity to emulate the European “Grand Tour”.

The first US souvenir spoons were produced in 1889 and 1890, but patents and patterns multiplied rapidly.

The great Columbia Exposition in Chicago, 1892-1893, raised souvenir spoon collecting to new heights of popularity.

The craze persisted until World War I.

This comic postcard, printed in the United States circa 1905, plays upon the popular fad of spoon collecting and the slang term for amorous adventures.

In August of 1906, Miss Erma Parker was living in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Storm Lake is a city in northwest Iowa; this agricultural center is now dominated by large hog-butchering and turkey-processing plants.

Miss Parker had a friend, M.W.R. who lived in Chicago or was passing through that city. (There is a postmark for Chicago and for a railroad station.)

M.W.R. notes on the face of the postcard that Miss Parker’s letter was received and will soon be answered.

One hopes that the friends maintained their flirtation through the years to come.