Greetings from Raleigh! For our first Flashback Friday post of the new year, we feature another of the popular ‘Big Letter’ postcards of the 1940s.

Raleigh, the Capital of North Carolina. The Capital City was named in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh.
The Seventeenth President of the United States, Andrew Johnson was born here.

No message on this week’s card. Possibly it was simply a souvenir picked up as an addition to a visitor’s travelogue.

Big letter postcards used a graphic design motif in which the name of a city, state or tourist attraction become the subject. The letters framed various landmarks characteristic of the place the card depicts. They were popular with the American traveling public from the late 1930s through the 1940s. Following the introduction of ‘photochrome’ postcards in the 1950s, the popularity of big-letter cards began to fade.

I wonder how many Goodnight Raleigh readers can identify the buildings depicted in this week’s featured postcard.

Our previous ‘big letter’ postcards of the 1940s can be seen here and here.

This week’s postcard was locally produced by the North Carolina News Company of Durham, NC, and was printed by the renowned Chicago postcard printer Curt Teich Co.

Curt Teich Co.   1893-1974
Chicago, IL

A major publisher and printer. Their U.S. factories turned out more cards in quantity than any other printer. They published a wide range of national view-cards of America and Canada. Many consider them one of the finest producers of White Border Cards. The Linen Type postcard came about through their innovations as they pioneered the use of offset lithography. They were purchased by Regensteiner Publishers in 1974 which continued to print cards at the Chicago plant until 1978.

“Flashback Friday” is a weekly feature of Goodnight, Raleigh! in which we showcase vintage postcards depicting our historic capital city. We hope you enjoy this week end treat!