After 1885 postcards printed by private firms were allowed to be send across the borders of the given country. This marked the beginning of the triumphal march of a pictorial medium which is presently being revived. Additionally, they were printed with glitter or fabric ornaments, designed as transparent and folding cards. The first colored picture postcards were still manufactured with the expensive chromolithograph procedure. Starting in 1892, postcards printed with silver bromide copied from a negative spread in vast numbers until finally the offset printing process replaced the older techniques.
Today offset is the standard method used in the production of postcards.
There is no subject that cannot be found on postcards. For long, they satisfied the general desire for pictorial news and information. Thus, the collection of the German Historical Museum includes the whole range from souvenir postcards to political propaganda postcards, from kitsch to art. A special emphasis is put on postcards which reflect historical events.