Fayetteville St., Looking North. Raleigh, N.C.
In several previous installments of Flashback Friday we’ve published vintage postcards depicting Raleigh’s ‘Main Street’. This week, however, the charm of this particular card is not in the visual depiction itself, but in the message written on the back.
Shaw Uni., Raleigh, N.C.
Dear Miss Sanders,
I am well and hope that you and family are the same. I am having a nice time here. The teachers and students are very kind. I went to the Fair Friday and had a fine time.
Love to all.
From, Berta
In a well-studied cursive hand, ‘Berta’ wrote this sweet note to ‘Miss Sanders’ in 1907 relating her impression of the ‘big city’ of Raleigh. This young lady was probably a freshman at Shaw University at the time, and was far away from home. Was Miss Sanders a beloved teacher of Berta’s, or perhaps a cherished mentor? — but then, I wouldn’t know. I do think Berta was perhaps a little homesick, and was looking for some gentle comfort in a familiar connection with home.
This week’s Flashback Friday postcard is another example of the fine work of the the Paul C. Koebler Co.
Paul C. Koeber Co. (PCK) 1900-1923
85 Franklin Street. New York, NY and Kirchheim, GermanyPublished national view-cards and illustrations in chromolithography and in black and white. Much of their color work has a dark heavy feel to it because of the many thick layers of ink they used. In their later years they published postcards using tinted halftones.
The Paul C. Koeber Co. trademark. The peacock (PCK) image probably represented the company’s extensive use of color in its postcards.
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12/17/2011
As a hardcore Cranbrook trained graphic designer, NC native, I cannot thank you more for this kind of writing.
I had an 8th grade English teacher that was in her 80s that told these wonderful stories about the wonder of travel. She told rich about travelling outside of her small town near Lake Lure, switching to cars from horses. It also makes me proud of the culture that is still lurking here, and, anytime I see you guys do a post like this, because, with the massive onslaught of people moving here from the wastelands of the midwest, and, metroexeuals from NYC – I pray – they come across this site – and that we can still hang on to the things that give us integrity. That they can become part of the story.
Thanks again.
12/18/2011
If that card were published today, they would have photo shopped the horse pooh out of the scene.
12/18/2011
BTW: a Maude J Sanders, age 25, daughter of Albert and Clara Sanders, lived on Florence Street in Darlington, SC in 1910. Same person perhaps?