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POSTCARDS AND MEMORIES OF TRAVELING THE USA

Postcards And Memories Of Traveling The USA

Are we there yet? Everyone remembers those long family vacations which inadvertently someone asked that question. Family after family has stumbled across the unexpected treasures and comical gems that comprise America's tourist traps. Decade after decade families have used souvenir postcards to share their discoveries with friends and family. Destinations like national parks, world's fairs and scenic wonders, along with side attractions from Indian teepees to alligator farms. They have all been commemorated on postcards now beloved by collectors.

Many of the cards reflect on travel and tourism in this country and are especially intriguing if the travelers who bought them had a flexible schedule and allowed themselves to be drawn off the road to see something special.
The attraction could have been a cave, a wood carver, a dinosaur park or maple syrup farm where they have the opportunity to watch the making of the sap to the syrup.

Or maybe it was cars driving through tunnels cut in big trees in the West Coast forests. These postcards may indicate an environmental unawareness on the part of the average motorist of the time but some of them give a glimpse into the evolution of American cars. They show the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s models going through the same tree. The earliest card is dated 1915.

Of course states, towns and cities have long used postcards to advertise themselves. A lot of the time in the most creative, colorful and amusing ways. An entire genre of cards featuring gigantic produce, fish and animals to boast of a region's greatness has augmented the nations store of folk humor since the beginning of the century.
Years ago, magazines and newspapers used few illustrations and small town publications did not use any before about 1915. There was no radio or TV and few telephones so postcards filled that void. The album of postcards was the mainstay of the parlor. A great find for any collector today would be to uncover someone's grandma's postcard album in a trunk up in the attic.

Major disasters such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were popular subjects for postcards. Tourists collected and sent them to the folks back home to let them know what had happened.

While traveling it was easy for you to get a card and a one-cent stamp and then write a note to your family to let them know you had arrived safely and that would put your loved ones at ease. A picture was worth the a thousand words and postcards were popular with people who were not particularly literate. The diversity of the postcards found along the journey proves traveling the roads of America was quite an adventure which still brings much delight today to the beginner and most advid collectors.