“I suspect to be down on the midnight train on Thursday. – Fred”
My Collection of Old Postcards
I’ve been collecting these photo postcards from the moment I knew they existed. I would have found a box of them at a postcard show, marked as “real postcards”. This was not what most people were looking for at a postcard show – each table might have one of these boxes pushed to the back or tucked beneath the table.
I was fascinated by them, because they were silver gelatin prints – proper vintage. Proper contact prints. They were the style I liked; the vernacular, the snapshot, whatever you want to call it. They were from the early 20th century, from the advent of fast ISO speed roll film – as opposed to slow plate film used the generation prior. People were able to take their own photographs, instead of going to a photo studio to take wooden portraits. This was the era of Kodak’s “You push the button, we do the rest.” campaign.
The quality of the photograph can vary, some show silvering, or fog, or lack of contrast. But many are sparkling. They were printed on some of the finest silver chloride papers ever made – Azo, or Velox or Convira. This was before the practice of enlarging negatives, and they are mostly contact prints from 122 film – 3 ¼” x 5 ½” size. Contact prints are forgiving, and even if focus is off, you’d never know it.
Sometimes the negatives are placed askew on top of the photo paper. Borders are wonky. There are scratches to the emulsion, maybe some dust. Some images are folded – maybe kept in a wallet or purse. It all contributes to a genuine aesthetic not an app or a filter. Many of these I have framed, and I consider treasures. Others are in a box which I will sort through with great joy every so often.
Many are postmarked, and stamped. Other were printed but never mailed. This postcard format was in use for decades. Up until recently, Ilford sold a postcard paper on admittedly ugly RC paper.
Dimensions
Paper size: varies
Image size: varies
Vintage silver gelatin prints
