Grandma’s Victorian Greeting: Happy New Year!

marianbeaman

Here is a postcard from precisely 100 years ago: Grandma Fannie Martin Longenecker’s New Year’s greeting passed down to me and then to our daughter Crista who now displays it in a frame with her holiday decorations:

NewYearPostcard

They were called penny postcards for a reason!

back of postcard

Yes, it’s 100 years old, postmarked December 30, 1913. Notice there is no street address in a town of thousands and certainly no zip code, not instituted until the 1960s. “R.R.” means Rural Route. Dauphin County adjoins Lancaster County to the west.

Have you held on to old postcards or letters? Where do you keep them?

Inquiring minds want to know! Please join the conversation.

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VOTING BEGINS THURSDAY for My Gutsy Story on author Sonia Marsh’s website: To read the story: http://soniamarsh.com/2013/12/rising-above-the-pettiness-to-focus-on-the-positive-by-marian-beaman.html

Voting for My Gutsy December 2013 Story begins Jan. 2 and ends Jan. 15, 2014.

16 thoughts on “Grandma’s Victorian Greeting: Happy New Year!”

  1. How very very special! I would hang on to that too. It just brings to mind many things: wow, 100 years. Sometimes I put those together and think, wow, only 20 one hundred year periods (roughly) and you are back to the time of Christ. Makes his era seem so much closer, right? I do love old things, keep too many!

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    1. Thanks for the comment, Melodie. I don’t consider myself a pack-rat either, but I have hung onto some old ice skates that will appear in a blog post soon. Then I’ll be re-cycling them! Happy, happy New Year to you and yours!

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  2. We have some old post cards also, but I’m not sure if any are that old. It is interesting they the address included writing down the county. Enjoy!

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    1. Like few others, you can actually visualize all the places featured on my blog–like Elizabethtown, MIddletown, Bossler’s Church! I always enjoy your comments. Thanks, and Happy New Year, Shirley!

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  3. What a delight to have that framed and on display. Such irreplaceable treasures! We have some old postcards of Cypress Cove when it was just an orange grove…not 100 years old though. I still have some old ones from Mama’s scrap books that are more than fifty years old. A trip to Washington DC and Niagara Falls mostly.

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  5. Marian – A century old! 1913 was the year my maternal grandmother was born. Every time I see it written — 1913 — I think of “granaidh” (that’s what we called her – it’s Scottish Gaelic for grandmother).

    You asked your readers if they hold onto old postcards or letters, and if so, where do we keep them?

    I’m a born “thrower.” The only items I have that remotely fall into that category, are photo albums from before the digital age. Now I keep all of my photographs online — a minimalist’s dream come true!

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    1. My husband is the pack rat in our family, not me, so I think. Then why am I hanging onto things? My answer for the postcard: I loved Grandma. But I have old skates too from teen age years. That’s going too far, so tomorrow I will re-cycle then, after I use a photo of them in a blog–ha!

      Like you, I have photo albums stuffed with our history, 21 to be exact, but in the last 2 years I’ve gone digital. Thank God–where would I store more?

      Thank, always, for noticing and commenting, Laurie!

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    1. I’m glad his post prompted you to think about that chest full of old post cards. They have value–both sentimental and otherwise. Perhaps you can showcase some of them on your own blog sometime; I’d love to see them!

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