Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1907 – 1920’s.
Price: $10.00
Here’s a Real Photo Postcard of a beautiful girl, age about eleven, posed standing at the side of a doorstep. Is that a gingham dress she’s wearing? I started looking into the definition and history of gingham since the original name for this post was going to be The Girl In the Gingham Dress, however, with close scrutiny (the sleeve cuff on our left shows the pattern best) it doesn’t seem to fit the standard look, but maybe some readers will disagree.
This led me off on a tangent…
The origin and history of fabric is fascinating: The term gingham is said to derive from the Malaysian genggang, meaning striped; the fabric perhaps first introduced in Dutch-colonized Malaysia, and also manufactured in Indonesia and India. It was imported in its original striped form to Europe in the 17th Century, found the American shores a bit later, at least as early as 1737, and began being also manufactured in checked or plaid form by around the 1750’s in Manchester, England. (Wikipedia) Another fact about gingham is that it has no right or wrong side: It looks the same on both front and back, and this is because the fibers are first dyed, then woven. Like many I’m sure, I had originally assumed that gingham was a purely Americana thing, but it makes sense now to find that this was (obviously) not the case, and interesting to see how the fabric fits (no pun intended) in other cultures. See examples, and I’m quoting from the lovely article (link below in sources) on the V is for Vintage website, “Many countries claim gingham fabric to be a staple of their own textile history and culture. Its widespread use throughout the world is due to it being inexpensive to produce, easy to wash, durable and simple in design.”
Direct from London….
Getting back to the fabric design, here are two examples of Colonial American newspaper ads found in The Pennsylvania Gazette (Newspapers.com.) The first one includes mention of ginghams in its list of the many fabrics available that had been recently shipped in from London. (What were Dittos, Garlicks, Ozenbrigs, Dyaper, Chelloes, Negenaputs, Long Romales, etc?! Tempted to research but not going there for now!)
From The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 3, 1737. (Newspapers.com)
In this second one below we see mention of the term checked gingham. From The Pennsylvania Gazette, dated April 13, 1758. (Newspapers.com)
The term striped gingham also shows up extremely frequently in 18th and 19th Century advertisements, but the surprising thing was to still see mention of it as late as the 1970s. Reference to silk gingham and plain gingham can also be found.
Back to the girl….
Coming back from the big fabric detour, what about that hat? It’s hard to tell whether it was straw or fabric, or even a combination of both. It’s a beauty though, and so is the girl. What a lovely dreamy expression she has!
One last note: If you enlarge the image of the girl, you’ll notice some lettering: Alas, this is not some exciting mystery (first thought) to solve re the identity of the postcard producer or photographer, but only the back header in reverse imaging showing through. (Chuckle.)
Sources: “Gingham fabric, a chequered history.” V is for Vintage, September 11, 2012. Web accessed May 16, 2015. [http://visforvintage.net/2012/09/11/gingham-fabric/]
The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 3, 1737, Sunday, p. 4. and April 13, 1758, Thursday, p. 4. (Newspapers.com) Web accessed May 16, 2015.
Gingham. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingham. (web accessed May 16, 2015).