Postcard Galleries
Abby Csaplar Memorial
Santa Postcard Gallery
This memorial gallery is dedicated to my friend Abby Csaplar, who, along with her husband Will, was a dedicated collector and exhibitor of waterfowl stamps. Beyond that, Abby was a wonderful, kind person who generously supported many different hobbies and she will be greatly missed.
Many of the followers of this website and blog are familiar with Abby's philatelic interests, so I would like to let you know about another of her passions – she loved to collect vintage Santa Claus postcards!
We shared this hobby together for close to 30 years. When the Csaplars downsized a while ago, they allowed me to acquire their extensive Santa postcard collection and merge it with my own.
There is no doubt in my mind that Abby would love for me to share some of her favorite Santa postcards with you. To enter, click on the card above.
Harry Foglietta Memorial
Hula Girl Postcard Gallery
This is one of three memorial galleries dedicated to my friend Harry Foglietta. Like Abby, Harry was a collector of more than just waterfowl stamps. He lived in Hawaii for close to 40 years and was a lifelong student of Hawaiian history and culture. Harry was also a big wave surfer. He loved to collect Hawaiiana and specialized in vintage Hawaiian postcards.
Harry assembled a tremendous collection of Hawaiian picture postcards – one of the best of all time. Harry had three favorite topics: Hula Girls, Surfing and the Mid Pacific Carnival.
Harry and I hoped to write a book about Hawaiian postcards one day, along with fellow collector Dolores Rowe. Sadly, Harry passed away too soon. I know Harry would have wished for me to share some of his favorite cards with you.
This gallery focusses on Hawaiian hula girls, including both printed and real photo postcards. Note: in keeping with the time period these images were taken (early 20th century) many of the cards in this gallery show bared breasts. To continue, click on the card above.
The second of three galleries dedicated to my friend Harry Foglietta, this one focusses on his primary collecting interest – Hawaiian surfing postcards.
As we will see, the earliest Hawaiian postcards (often referred to as pioneers) did not feature images of men surfing the waves on a board. When these cards were printed (1897– 1901), interest in surfing was at a low point. Therefore, the pioneer cards featured outrigger canoes.
At the beginning of the 20th century, surfing experienced a rebirth and this resulted in postcards with images of men, women and children riding the waves on surfboards.
Among Harry's favorite subjects were postcards featuring the legendary swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku, postcards featuring the surfing photography of Ray Baker and Tom Blake and those showing Blake surfing, himself, alone or going tandem.
Collecting surfing postcards allowed Harry to experience much happiness and joy in his lifetime. I am pleased to share this special gallery with you. Click on the card above to enter.
In the third gallery, we shall see postcards and related materials that were commissioned by the Hawaii Promotion Committee to advertise the annual Floral Parade and Mid Pacific Carnival from 1910 to 1917. The poster-style cards represent a high point for classic Hawaiian postcard design and many featured native women or surfing scenes – Harry's primary collecting interests.
The event was held in February and ostensibly organized as a celebration of George Washington's Birthday. The Mid Pacific Carnival grew out of a relatively small-scale Honolulu Merchant's Fair and within ten years rivaled the biggest celebrations in the world – those of Nice, Brazil and New Orleans.
In addition to the birthday observance, Honolulu businessmen used the Carnival to advertise to the world everything the Territory of Hawaii had to offer. To facilitate their goal, they employed massive advertising campaigns featuring chromolithographed posters, postcards, larger mailing cards and poster stamps.
The Committee used these to saturate the U.S. mainland and Europe and succeeded in greatly elevating the levels of global awareness, tourism, business revenue and investment and helped pave the way for the territory to become our 50th state in 1959. Today, all of these advertising materials are highly sought after by collectors.
This gallery is dedicated to the Halloween postcard art of John Winsch and Samuel Schmucker. John Winsch was a publisher of high quality picture postcards during the height of the "postcard craze" that swept the world during the early part of the 2oth century. Winsch got his start as a clerk for the Art Lithographic Publishing Company in New York shortly after the turn of the century. By 1907 he had become co-manager of the company and is said to have held this position until 1915.
However, what Winsch became famous for is his own line of picture postcards that he produced between 1910 and 1915. He copyrighted over 4,000 different cards during this time and employed several of the leading postcard artists of the day; most notably, Samuel L. Schmucker who created the Winsch Girl.
According to Jack Davis and Dorothy Ryan, authors of Samuel L. Schmucker – The Discovery of His Lost Art, "Schmucker is recognized by most deltiologists (collectors of picture postcards) as the best American postcard artist from the Golden Age of postcards, c1898-1915." He is, perhaps, best known for creating the Schmucker Girl for the Detroit Art Publishing Company prior to working for Winsch. The Schmucker Girl was a fantasy, dream-like creature that was frequently portrayed as one with nature, done in the Art Nuveau style popular in the Belle Epoque that began around 1890 and ended with World War I in 1914.
While Schmucker's earlier work for Detroit Publishing was amazing and a joy to behold, it is the art Schmucker subsequently created for John Winsch – specifically his Halloween postcard designs – that I wish to shine a light on in this gallery.