Postcards from the … wha … Denmark, Iowa?

So I posted about my little quilt find the other day, but I also brought home postcards. Or actually, just cards I think. Uncommon Objects had a whole box and a drawer full of postcards from the 1920’s and 1930’s. It appears as though said postcards were once the only type of cards – no greeting cards, in other words. Most of the ones I looked at were sorta halfway between the two types. Anyway, I liked these because I have a historical bent and they were personally interesting, and I am going to do something interesting and collag-ey with them, I just don’t know what yet.

These first two are “Texas postcards.” The one on the left is a poem with the title “Texas A Paradise.” It’s from 1936 and it has that schlocky idea of “no place is better than Texas” – the sort of blind and unruly pride in being a Texan that people from other states don’t seem to have so much. The poem says, essentially, that it’s damn hot (look at the teeth on that sun!) but that it’s the promised land.

The other postcard is marked September, 1938 on the back and is a picture of Rice Institute in Houston – now know as Rice University. I grew up in Houston and lived near here for 2 years, and there’s not a blade of uncultivated grass left like this anymore. It’s completely city, and surrounded by (1) the Medical Cente, (2) a bunch of expensive housing and (3) museums, such as they are.

This next one photographed poorly because of the gold, but it’s got great style and was one of the older ones I found. It’s marked Nov. 11, 1909 to Miss Mollie Watt and reads “From your friend Lizzie Harlow, wishing that live to enjoy many more birthdays” [sic]. The front says “Best Wishes.”

This funny (and a little scary with the scythe) card is the one that’s really interesting. It’s from June 10, 1910 through the post office in Wever, Iowa. It was from Helen Davies to Hannah Meisel.

The funny thing is that Wever, Iowa is the post office for Denmark, Iowa, which is the tiny little town where my grandparents live and my mom grew up. Denmark and Wever are towns of 300 people! The chances that I would find a postcard from Wever in an antique shop in Austin are pretty slim. I called my grandparents and they didn’t know the people, but then, my grandfather wasn’t born until 1919.

Anyway, that was fun! I love finding stuff that is interesting to me, and quirky and unique.