Have you ever looked at something many times, devouring its beauty with your eyes and enjoying the object - until! - one day you suddenly notice a detail that had previously escaped your attention? That happened to me this week.In recent years some older postcards have come my way, including the one to the left. Every November I pull out my Thanksgiving cards and put them up. Every year I look over them closely, admiring the colors, the decorative writing, the embossing, if there is any, the sentiment, the message, the sender and addressee. Every tiny detail is interesting.
But this year! This year I was looking once again at the writing on the back of this particular card. My attention was drawn to the postmark: Dornsife, Pennsylvania. And the only visible part of the date was 1911.
1911! My Gramma Beulah and Grampa Gust were married at the end of that year! Either of them could have sent the other a postcard just like this one! And of course my mind wandered a bit, imagining him in Stoneboro, her in Bruin.
This postcard does not have any direct relation to my family, but I love the little connections that happen when aspects of social history (and specific real objects) touch on the lives of my family. And I wonder... what was their young love like...?
Happy Thanksgiving!
I just came across your blog while looking at information from the 1911 UK census. The '1911' reference was picked up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely! It is so fascinating to think of what the lives of our ancestors were like. Trying to imagine the feelings they had makes them that much more real and close to us.
All the best,
Luke
What a great postcard! And the date connection is even greater...too bad there is no way to know if Gust ever did send one like that to Beulah.
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