The nation’s first pictorial postcards were printed as commemorative souvenirs of the World’s Columbian Exposition is Chicago in 1893. These cards and those that followed are grouped into six categories: Pioneer Era Cards (1861-1898), Private Mailing Cards (1898-1901), Undivided Back Cards (1901-1907), Divided Back Cards (1907-1915), White Border Cards (1916-1930), Linen Cards (1930-1945), Chrome Cards (1939-present), and of particular interest, Real Photo Cards (1900-present).
As with other ephemeral items that provide a “snapshot” in time, this paper will illustrate a number of postcards depicting cemeteries, gravemarkers, and monuments, and will focus on several case studies that make use of postcards to augment these “stories in stone.”
About the presenterRichard A. Sauers
Cemetery historian at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton, N.J., and chair of MAPACA Death in American Culture.