New-York tribune., 1906-09-16
Story of the Picture Postcard.
Craze Valuable Uses for Tourists and sehooi
Chdren-n1iions Circulated This Summer

nunils I'm Africa Alaska Australia, Canada,
Ceylon. Cuba. India Hawaii the PLnippplni' .i ppieo
Prince Edward Island. Tasmania most or the
countries OF South America and Europe ana
most 81 the American states The sehool ,s Was
located IN a little country town. where tnere
was no public library and comparatively rev
pictures and books. The postcards brought the
Children into touch with the whole world In q
rav no other means at their command would
have done. They developed a mania for the e&s
change and learned an astonishing amount OF
geography from II. As some or the places froIn
which thew received cards were not 20 be round
on the maps OF their textbooks. the wise teacner
communicated with Transportation cohpSilleS pee
and got railroad maps and literature Occa-
sionaily instead OF regular geography lesson
the children were allowed TO display cards which
they had received, and tell all they knew OF tne
nlsces thew came from, people, occupations, nat
ural resources and history. When tnoy knew
nothing about a place they were encouraged 10
write 10 the sender Of the card and tind out; ano
as these letters Were not permitted 70 De sent
until written correctly, the postcards nepeQ them
in English as we'll as geography The chiiaren cIl
had their ideas very much expanded when they
found that some foreign boys and girls or tneir
own age could write to them In Enghsh. rms
school has become marked for the general IN
tellirence OF the pupils and the amount OF infor-
nation they possess about the world at large
HOME OF THE POSTCARD.
The origin OF the picture postal is unknown
There is a story that party OF young art stu
dents sitting In a cafe in the Latin Quarter
one night spilled some coffee on an ordinary
postal card. One OF them traced the huid into a
clever sketch. When IL dried IL was sent through
the mails, and originated the picture postaI.
However that may be, Germany is the home OF
the picture postal. Germany makes postals Tor
the whole world. The cards that the tourist
sends home from Japan. from Italy and from
Pokamuk Falls, with its 800 Inhabitants, were
probably all alike made in Germany. The half
tone cards used here are made In the United
States, but most Of the colored ones come from
Germany because IN spite Of the duty they
can be imported cheaper than they can be
made at home. II takes time, however. One
New York dealer ordered his Christmas postals
from Germany last February. He is ordering
his valentine and Easter postals now.
The postcard has been very useful TO trav-
ellers and students IN Europe. Formerly there
was no way 20 retain Illustrations Of the places
ana things visited except by means Of photo
graphs, and 20 obtain photographs as good and
as varied as the various postcards would cost
many dollars.
One New York woman who knows a great deal
about art and the art museums OF Europe found
herself unable to buy all the photographs she
wanted. She had resort TO the postcards, and
now she has a collection illustrating every art
museum in Europe 1t serves as a record Of
the location of each OF the worlds famous orig
inals. Each collection is in a box by itself,
properly labelled, as she cannot afford the great
albums which would be necessary.
the country. organized merely 20 exchange post
cards with one another. and some postcard
nends belong 10 seven or eight OF them There