Postcard Eras & Types

Initially, picture postcards had no room for a message; the entire back was reserved for the address of the recipient.

The beginning of WWI sounded the death knell for the Golden Age of Postcards. After the German factories were bombed, and imports to the U.S. fell precipitously, U.S. printers picked up the slack, but U.S. printing processes couldn’t match the Germans’ stellar chromolithography.

But in the U.S. that changed by 1907, and the divided-back postcard became an irresistible and affordable way to send a message.