Saturday, November 22, 2014

Wish You Were Here [1907 - Sheridan]


A few days ago, in our comments section, a loyal follower asked, "What's next?" If only we knew! Well, even John doesn't know what's next for the Island. He's working on it. Please stay tuned and find out. Today, John was going through some of the postcards in one of the boxes of antique paper and found the one you see here.

The scene is a "bird's-eye-view" of Sheridan, Madison County, Montana, in about 1907. At the bottom of the image, the person (we believe a lady) who mailed the card, wrote --- around the printed location --- so that it reads, "Wish you were in Sheridan Madison Co, Montana for a while."

The card was mailed in Sheridan on October 24, 1907, and addressed to Mr. Robert Thompson, Murphysboro, Ill. Wasn't it great when no street or zip code was needed, AND it only cost 1 cent to mail a postcard!?! It appears that the card made it to Murphysboro in just four days (about 1575 miles/2535 km) and was postmarked there on October 28th (on the image side of the card).

Perhaps the best part of this card is the message and the artistic way in which it was written.


Our guess is, this card put a smile on Mr. Thompson's face. It says, "Dearest Friend: I am in Sheridan at present having a Fine and Dandy time. Went to a dance here last night, had a 'Swell time.' The blot of ink on other side is where I am staying {226 N. 8th street} in Sheridan. E. M. B"

How do you like the script?

It did take us a while, with a magnifying glass, to find the blot of ink ... yes, we found it ... we added a red arrow to help you ... closer to the right side of the image.


AND, Lastly, don't miss the steam train approaching the depot at the bottom of the image side of the card. :-)

We wonder how things turned out as time went by.

Thank you for stopping by John's Island.


10 comments:

  1. I just love these glimpses into the past, John. That script is wild! E.M.B. must have been a woman, given all those flourishes. Or maybe that was more common back than than I thought. Isn't it terrible that cursive writing will no longer be taught in schools? Soon the Millennials won't be able to read this. :-)

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  2. wow. such fine writing! i do believe she wanted to impress that gent! :)

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  3. The handwritten note is exquisite. I believe we are losing the gift of handwriting and that is really a shame.

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  4. I just love these old postcards and calendars you find. And a postcard for 1 cent and no zip code. Interesting detail in the picture, so thanks for pointing them out.

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  5. I challenge you to write a cursive note. I learned cursive starting in the third grade and used it all through school. Recently I tried to write a cursive note and I could not do it. Cursive takes practice and my hand would not move where my brain told it to move.

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  6. (we've never completely frozen over but the pond edges have gotten pretty iced up in the past. :))

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  7. What a neat old postcard. Love the handwriting and it was fun reading the words of a lost time.
    In some schools I hear they don't even teach cursive writing any more!!!

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  8. That is amazing! I love seeing handwriting from the past. It's interesting how everyone had similar, fancy writing styles back then.

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  9. I love it. This is so interesting.

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  10. I like this info you kindly post. And pictures John.

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