Unusual Christmas Card

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I thought I would try to find some unusual Christmas postcards rather than the usual Santa or kids at the Christmas tree. This is one with superior art work showing a cherub waiting for a train with a packed suitcase, presents, a holly wreath on her head and mistletoe at her feet. Enjoy and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! You can see all of my postcards on my website at Moodys Postcards.

The P. T. Barnum Institute of Science & History

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I want to share with you today the Barnum Institute of Science and History in Bridgeport Connecticut. P. T. Barnum originally contracted for and provided the funds, $100,000, and land for this building which would house the Bridgeport Scientific Society and the Fairfield County Historical Society and was completed in 1893. It originally served as a resource library and lecture hall and the Wright brothers and Thomas Edison spoke there. The building was designed to have commercial properties on the first floor which would provide income to sustain the operation but no businesses ever utilized the space. This led to financial hardship which combined with the Great Depression in the 1930s led both societies to cease operations.
The City of Bridgeport took over ownership in 1933 and opened the Barnum Museum in 1936. The city closed the building in 1943 for remodeling and reopened it in 1946 as a city hall annex with the third floor used for displaying collections from the now defunct societies. In 1965, all the city offices were removed, the building was repaired and operations were resumed in 1968 as the P. T. Barnum Museum and was run by city employees.
In 1986, the public-private Barnum Museum Foundation was formed to maintain the Museum and a $7.5 million dollar renovation took place with the Museum being reopened in 1989 with a 7,000 square foot addition. The Museum still operates today so be sure to put it on your "to do" list if you are in the area. This postcard is available in my Connecticut web page listings on my website at Moody's Postcards.

Elaborate County Court House Architecture

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Today I want to share a couple of beautiful County Court Houses from the early 1900s with you. I love these elaborate old buildings which often resemble a fortress or some of the early Armory's. The first example comes from Bridgeport Connecticut and is available in my Connecticut web page listings.

The second postcard is the Ellis County Court House in Waxahachie Texas and is available in my Texas web page listings.

Tis the season for Halloween Postcards

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Halloween is just around the corner and it only fitting that we look at a couple of great Halloween postcards. Halloween is the celebration of All Saints' Day or All Hallows' Eve so now you can see when the name came from. The tradition was brought to the America by the Irish who fled Ireland after the great potato famine of the 1840s. Since the holiday is celebrated around fall harvest time, the traditions are built around pumpkins, apples and harvest scenes. The completion of the harvest was a time when the young single folks thoughts turned to a finding a mate or determining if a girl would marry so the postcards often show couples enjoying the holiday. Rings were baked into cakes and girls would go into gardens to look at the beets and cabbages to find a clue to their future mate. Also contributing to the holiday were the immigrants of Scots-Celtic ancestry who brought with them the poems of Robert Burns and a healthy dose of superstition. Burn's poem "Halloween" shows the holiday as a time for sitting around the fire, telling ghost stories, fortune telling, drinking and couples matching up and sneaking off into the night. His "Tam O' Shanter" story is a great Halloween tale complete with witches, the devil and a scary night. These are a couple of reasons Robert Burns is known as the father of Halloween.
Almost 100 publishers, mostly American, but including English and German companies produced more than 3,000 different Halloween postcards. The premier Halloween postcard publisher was John Winsch from Stapleton New York who began producing postcards in 1910 and the 1911 & 1912 copyrighted postcards are among the best sellers. The Halloween postcards by the artist Samuel L Schmucker, who is considered an Art Nouveau artist, are among the most sought after and command high prices ranging from $70 to over $1,000. The following card from my Halloween Postcard web page is an excellent example of a Winsch Halloween postcard done by the artist Samuel Schmucker.

The second illustration from my website is a beautiful young lady in a Halloween costume complete with a mask and Jack-O-Lanterns around the border.

Postcards featuring unusual buildings Part 10

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Today's unusual building postcard is a great early view of "The Funny Place" on the new Steeplechase Pier in Atlantic City New Jersey which claimed to have the world's largest electric sign with 27,000 light bulbs advertising Chesterfield Cigarettes. George C. Tilyou developed the pier in 1908 and modeled from his amusement park of the same name at Coney Island in New York. Some of the better know rides available at the Atlantic City site were the Flying Chairs that swung out over the ocean, the Mexican Hat Bowl and the Sugar Bowl Slide. This is a great postcard showing the boardwalk and the basket chairs pushed by local young men. This postcard can be seen in my New Jersey listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website at Moody's Postcards.

Postcards featuring unusual buildings Part 9

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Today's unusual building postcard goes a little deeper into the subject with a view of the interior of the Y. M. C. A. in Omaha Nebraska. I feature the exterior of a lot of old buildings because of their beautiful or unusual design but this exterior is not that impressive.
So today I wanted to show you this interior to give you an idea of the beauty inside these older buildings. The 15 foot ceilings with massive wooden beams resting on 12 foot marble columns in cavernous rooms with chandeliers are not what you expect to see in a Y.M.C.A. in these days. Both of the postcards can be seen in my Nebraska listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website at Moody's Postcards.

Postcards featuring unusual buildings Part 8

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"They don't make them like they use to" is a familiar saying now and our postcard of the day illustrates what they are talking about. Most of the schools today are one or two stories covered in red brick and look more like a big ranch style house than schools. The folks in Helena Montana knew how to build a school that could hold up under all kinds of weather, keep the kids safe and look beautiful. Check out the detail around the entrance and windows and the steep roof to keep that winter snow off the roof top. This circa 1909 school was a work of art and can be seen in my Montana listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website at Moody's Postcards.