text from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City

REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS 1899

Photographs were occasionally sent through the mail as handmade cards in the 19th century, but it is George Eastman who is most responsible for the development of the real-photo postcard. Prior to the 1880’s negatives were produced on glass with a freshly made and still wet photosensitive emulsion. With the invention of the dry plate process and roll film, amateurs started taking pictures in great numbers. So many companies started up to supply them that they depressed the entire market. To survive in this highly competitive climate Eastman developed a complete and easy to use camera system he named Kodak, -You press the button, we do the rest. This marketing strategy not only allowed him to survive but also propelled him to the top of his field. While the first known real photo postcard made its appearance in 1899, they did not begin to be made in number until Eastman bought the rights to Velox photo paper with a pre printed postcard back, and began to seriously market it in 1902. A year later he put an inexpensive folding camera on the market that produced negatives the same size as postcards allowing for simple sharp contact printing. No other company put nearly as much money into advertising. Great efforts were made to distinguish the artistic quality inherent in real photos from that of halftone reproductions. Between 1906 and 1910, Kodak offered a fee based service where they would process and print real photo postcards adding to their convenience and popularity.

Real photo postcards proved cheaper to make than the traditional cabinet cards the public was used to and they soon went out of fashion. With many people now able to create their own cards with simple Brownie cameras, studio photographers were feeling the loss of revenue from their portraiture work and most started publishing their own cards to make ends meet. All but the most important photographs were now shot in the postcard format. While some became well known for their line of photo cards, most others had to become a master of many trades. Local events as well as scenery were captured, printed, and often sold out of the photographers own studio. Many times elaborate studio props would be made to attract customers for informal portraits. This was very popular at resorts and amusement parks where many photographers took up residence. Many became salesmen offering their work to other local retail outlets, while others took up the itinerant life, traveling the country in search of subjects and sales.

Labeling real photo postcards was an expensive affair. Since no additional printing was actually required on the card, adding ones name or even a title was an extra step involving time and money better spent. Printers required minimum orders larger than the number of cards most photographers produced. Professional photographers had the luxury of printing real photos as they needed them, without the expense of maintaining inventory. Many cards were titled by writing on the negative, and sometimes a photo studio would rubber stamp their name on a card’s back, but more often than not it was just left blank. Because of this the quantities of any particular image made are often unknown, as many do not indicate who made them or where the photograph was taken. Many one of a kind cards produced by amateurs in their homes are indistinguishable from those made by factories in large quantities. But there are those photos that possess such great personal charm that there is no doubt they were made by amateurs.

Photographing the dead became a tradition that was passed down to real photo postcards when they appeared. Many cards were made showing a dead family member, often to be passed out to relatives and friends. It was also not uncommon to see bodies torn apart in battle on postcards through the First World War. But as death moved from the community to be hidden away in hospitals, this type of imagery became less welcomed and largely disappeared; not only within families but from our view of war and tragedy.

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