Colorful 'Greetings from' postcards reflect American innovation and idealism, as they advertise more than just the tiny scenes squeezed into 3D letters. These postcards, emblazoned with 'Greetings from' a state, city, or tourist attraction, also showcase American innovation and idealism in both their production and popularity.
The Genius of Curt Teich
So-called large-letter postcards weren't new when a German immigrant named Curt Teich began producing colorful linen-textured versions in the early 1930s, but he 'was kind of a genius,' said Will Hansen, curator of Americana at the Newberry Library in Chicago, home to the largest public collection of Teich postcards in the United States. Just as Henry Ford revolutionized automobile production, Teich's company perfected a system of mass-producing large-letter postcards based on the idea that no town was too small to include.
'Nobody had really pulled together the idea that we should just do these for everywhere, and that's kind of a quintessentially American thing,' Hansen said. 'You take an idea, and you perfect it and you replicate it.'
Popularity in Mid-20th Century
The postcards' popularity in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s was fueled by an obsession with the automobile and the adventure of road travel. Teich and his imitators used saturated colors and simplified scenes to paint an enticing view of mid-20th-century America. 'They're very optimistic-looking,' Hansen said. 'That is sort of in tandem with how Americans are thinking about America at that time — that this is a country on an upward trajectory, that we have more money to spend, that we're able to travel freely in ways we couldn't before.'
Collectors and Modern Legacy
Peter Meggison, a 76-year-old retired community college professor in Westport, Massachusetts, has 10,000 large-letter postcards in his private collection. His favorites include cards depicting his hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and one from Saugatuck, Michigan, that features a vibrant artist's palette as the background. 'I think it's the graphics that appeal to a lot of people, and they really do represent mid-20th century America, which is really quite nice,' he said.
For non-collectors, sending the postcards to friends and family was an inexpensive way to show off their travel. Today, travelers pose in front of murals around the country that mimic the vintage postcards and share photos on social media. Last year, the Newberry helped The Eagles create a background of gigantic postcard images at the Sphere in Las Vegas for the classic rock band's performance of 'Take it Easy.' Says Hansen: 'Even if folks in that crowd weren't alive at the time when these were being distributed, everybody knows them.'
This story is part of a recurring series, 'American Objects,' marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.
