POSTCARDS: FACT OR FICTION?

This isn’t a book about postcards. The emphasis is definitely on the text, but I have used postcards to illustrate these Omaha histories in most cases. And, in fact, some of the stories have been inspired by postcards in my collection. An example is the case of Monarch, the buffalo. The postcard depicting him piqued my curiosity, and many years went by before I discovered the story behind the picture. (See MONARCH, THE DEMOTED BUFFALO.)

I started collecting Omaha postcards in 1983, shortly after I became interested in the area’s history. The collection mushroomed to roughly 5,000 cards with an Omaha connection. Even so, my collection is far from a complete one.

I consider two cards to be different even if their subject is identical, but they have a different manufacturer or a different printed description. I can’t hope to ever have them all, but my goal has been to compile as complete a catalog of Omaha-related postcards as possible.

I began to record my acquisitions on an Excel spreadsheet about 35 years ago, and later added cards I didn’t have but knew were out there. It would be difficult, indeed, to control a collection like mine without a computerized inventory of some sort, and I recommend that you design one yourself if you are, or intend to become, a deltiologist. That’s the word which denotes one who collects and/ or studies postcards. It’s from the Greek word for “writing tablet” or “letter.” The hobby really caught on in 1907, when messages were first allowed to be written on the address side of the card, but the word deltiology wasn’t coined until 1945.

Please see page 17 for a sample of the computer listing of my collection. I don’t contend that it’s ideal, but only an example of what might be done. It makes sorting and arranging your collection simpler, and, most important, is an indispensable tool for keeping track of what you already have and don’t have while searching for additions.

OMAHA POSTCARDS: FACT OR FICTION?

An artist’s conception of Omaha High School on a postcard produced during construction, circa 1908.

Even though I have considered collecting postcards to be a relatively inexpensive way to get a lot of Omaha history photos that I could get in no other way, I must caution the neophyte deltiologist that postcard depictions are not always exact reproductions of their subjects. Most cards produced before the 1940s began with a black-and-white photograph of the subject. The colorizing was accomplished with a set of written instructions or color codes furnished by the photographer or the card salesman and was sometimes far from a match with the reality. The craftsmen who did this work also inserted details such as automobiles, waving flags and pedestrians, while removing clutter such as construction under way.

More bothersome for historians are the cards that were produced before their subjects existed. For instance, if a new building had been proposed, the card manufacturer might be furnished with an architect’s drawing or artist’s conception well before construction began. The resulting postcard sometimes bore little resemblance to the finished building.

An accurate picture postcard of Omaha High, circa 1908, with the old high school building still standing behind it.

For example, the postcard illustration on the previous page is a fanciful depiction of Omaha High School (now Omaha Central) on Capitol Square at 20th Street and Capitol Avenue, produced well before construction was completed. The school never looked like this, but apparently such a design was at one time considered and a drawing made. Construction of the new Omaha High was started in 1900 and not completed until 1912, so there were probably many design ideas and modifications considered.

On the other hand, the postcard below of Omaha High is a faithful representation of what Capitol Square looked like, circa 1908. The tower peeking out from behind the new school is that of the old Omaha High School in use since 1872. As construction on the new school proceeded, the old building, still in use, was encircled. It was razed by 1912, leaving a courtyard in the middle of what became Omaha Central. Go, Eagles!

Louis Bostwick’s 1914 photo of downtown Omaha from high atop the WOW Building, looking west. The Fontenelle Hotel, opened in 1915, has been drawn in by the manufacturer to bring the skyline up to date.

My third illustration is from a photo of downtown Omaha taken by Louis Bostwick in 1914 from a perch on top of the WOW Building. When the Curt Teich Company of Chicago was ready to reproduce his photograph as a postcard in 1915, the Fontenelle Hotel had been added to Omaha’s skyline. No problem for the Curt Teich artist, who deftly added the hotel to the scene. It’s the building with the white terra cotta band behind and to the north of the New York Life/Omaha National Bank Building.

How do I know about this well-meaning deception? In February 1990, I designed and organized an exhibit at the Durham Museum, then Western Heritage, of Bostwick photos accompanied by the postcards made from them. A comparison of Bostwick-Frohardt Collection photo B/F 15-35 with Curt Teich Company number A-56035 revealed the masterful duplicity of that postcard maker.

If you are eager to collect authentic, historically accurate postcards, your best bet may be what are known as “real photo” postcards. These are generally

A “real photo” postcard of the ruins immediately after the Omaha tornado of March 23, 1913. It is No. 16 in a series reproduced in volume by Olson Photo Co. of Plattsmouth, Nebraska. black-and-white unretouched photographic images printed on postcard stock, as contrasted with cards manufactured using lithographic or offset printing processes. Real photo cards are usually priced higher. They are not necessarily rare, however. For those wanting scenes in small towns during the first half of the 20th century, real photo postcards may be their only option.

The great majority of early postcards depicting Omaha subjects are not real photos. But some local events have been extremely well-documented with them. In 1913, everybody wanted immediate photo souvenirs of Omaha’s Easter Sunday tornado. So local photographers swarmed the tornado’s path as soon as it had passed, offering thousands of real photo postcards of the scenes of death and destruction. Consequently, there are plenty available to collectors today. The premium prices dealers ask for them are, in my opinion, unwarranted.

Picture postcards are not only fun to collect, but they constitute an immensely valuable tool for researchers of urban history. An early postcard is often a community’s only visual record of a vanished building or street scene.

A sample of the computer listing of my collection.