A real photo postcard (RPPC) is a continuous-tone photographic image printed on

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...

stock. The term recognizes a distinction between the real photo process and the

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithography, lithographic process, which ...

processes employed in the manufacture of most postcard images.

History

In 1903,

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

introduced the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak. The camera, designed for postcard-size film, allowed the general public to take photographs and have them printed on

backs, usually in the same dimensions (3-1/2" x 5-1/2") as standard vintage postcards. Many other cameras were used, some of which used glass

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded film as the primary medium for capturing images in photography. These plates, made of metal or glass and coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, were integral to early photographic processes such as heliography, d ...

s that produced images that had to be cropped in order to fit the postcard format. In 1907, Kodak introduced a service called "real photo postcards," which enabled customers to make a postcard from any picture they took. While Kodak was the major promoter of photo postcard production, the company used the term "real photo" less frequently than photographers and others in the marketplace from 1903 to . '' Old House Journal'' states that "beginning in 1902 Kodak offered a preprinted card back that allowed postcards to be made directly from negatives." This technology allowed photographers to travel from town to town and document life in the places they visited. ''Old House Journal'' continues: "Local entrepreneurs hired them to record area events and the homes of prominent citizens. These postcards documented important buildings and sites, as well as parades, fires, and floods. Realtors used them to sell new housing by writing descriptions and prices on the back. Real photo postcards became expressions of pride in home and community, and were also sold as souvenirs in local drug stores and stationery shops." On March 1, 1907, Federal legislation permitted senders, for the first time, to include a message on a portion of the back of a postcard. (Prior to that time, the address only was allowed on one side while the other side could present a photo or artwork.) The front side could then accommodate a full-size real photograph. The popularity of real photo postcards soared nationwide, and many people began collecting the cards in albums. No other single format has provided such a massive photo history of America, particularly of small-town and rural America where photography was often a luxury. Many real photo postcards were unique prints captured by amateur photographers, but others were mass-produced by companies such as the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company in Belfast, Maine. Real photo postcards were sometimes created and sold as mementoes at the scene of

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

s; (see also

lynching postcard A lynching postcard is a postcard bearing the photograph of a lynching—a vigilante murder usually motivated by racial hatred—intended to be distributed, collected, or kept as a souvenir. Often a lynching postcard would be inscribed with racis ...

) they were also used to document such important events as the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

. Real photo postcards may or may not have a white border, or a divided back, or other features of postcards, depending on the paper the photographer used.

Bibliography

* Bernhard, Willi: ''Bernhard Picture Postcard Catalogue: Germany 1870-1945'', 1982 * Bogdan, Robert and Todd Weseloh
''Real Photo Postcard Guide: The People’s Photography''
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2006. * Morgan, Hal & Brown, Andreas: ''Prairie Fires and Paper Moons: The American Photographic Postcard: 1900-1920'', David R. Godine Publisher, Boston, 1981 * Nicholson, Susan Brown: ''The Encyclopedia of Antique Postcards'', Wallace-Homestead Book Co., Radnor, PA, (1994). * Sante, Luc: ''Folk Photography: The American Real-Photo Postcard 1905-1930'', YETI Books, 2009 * Smith, Jack H.: ''Postcard Companion: The Collector's Reference'', Wallace-Homestead, Radnor, PA, (1989) * Covington, Ernest G.: "Dating Post-1920 Real Photo Postcards," in ''Postcard Collector'', July 1986, pages 26–28. * Tulcensky, Harvey and Laetitia Wolff: ''Real Photo Postcards'' (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005) * Vaule, Rosamond B.: ''As We Were: American Photographic Postcards, 1905-1930,'' David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston, 2004.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Gallery of Real Photo Postcards
at The Morning News Film formats Postcards History of photography