ALL ABOUT POSTCARDS

As postcards became the quickest, easiest way to send a greeting or note around 1898, they also made the perfect vehicle for a joke. A postcard back has just enough space for an illustration and a zinger, and the sender had the pleasure of knowing they’d just delivered a smile—or a guffaw. Some comic postcards were political in nature, mocking a political candidate, the suffrage movement, or the enemy during a war. Others featured favorite characters from the newspaper funny pages. Some of these familiar comic-strip icons, like Buster Brown, were employed in postcards sent out as witty advertisements. Still others contained racy or risque jokes or racist caricatures of African Americans. By the elections of 1900, postcards were becoming an acceptable means of sending out campaign propaganda, and particularly jabs against rival candidates. However, it was during t... FUN READ! THANKS COLLECTOR WEEKLY!