Category Archives: The Lena Davis Postcard Collection

To Lena From Mamie

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From The Lena Davis Collection, here’s a postcard showing an embossed “framed” scene of two figures in a rowboat on a lake, with the sun rising or setting behind purple mountains. This is probably from about 1910, as we know from another postcard that Lena was in Pomona at that time. This one is from Lena’s cousin Mamie. Mamie wrote:

“Dear Cousin Lena:  I recieved you post card and was glad to hear. Glad you like it here. I hope you don’t go any farther away, I wish you could come to the pie social. We are going to Vincent Sunday. Hope John is feeling better. Write soon. You’ll all owe me cards now. Coz Mamie.”

Ahhhh, a pie social. Imagine the pies they had, and likely all homemade!

Divided back, unused with writing, embossed postcard. Publisher unknown. Circa 1910.

Price:  $2.00

In Northern Seas

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From one end of the country to the other:  We were on the coast of Maine in the last post, and this one looks like it might be Alaska, but there’s no information under than the caption,  “In Northern Seas”  appearing at the bottom, with the series or postcard number 3416, from the unknown publisher. The artist’s name is not appearing either, but it’s a beauty, showing what must be a summer scene:  rugged mountains with very little snow, a beach, a small fishing village and a boat out on the calm water. I like how the suns rays are depicted and the haziness off in the distance at the mouth of the inlet. This one is from the Lena Davis Collection, and the sender wrote:

“July 20 1910. We are all well hope this findes you the same. We are all done harvesting going to thresh next week. I have him[?] working for Charley for $2 [$12?] a day. I am home now will get done laying by corn in a day and a half. It is pretty dry now corn look wilted. how is the fruit out their. haven’t got any bear [beer?] had a fine time the forth they have had a dance in the grove since then. P.C.[?]   Answer sooner than I did if you have time.” 

Addressed to:   “Miss Lena Davis, Ceres, Calif., R.R. Box 67 [?]”

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked July 21, 1910 from Arapahoe, Nebraska. Unknown artist and publisher. Series or number 3416.

Price:  $10.00

 

Ring In The New

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“Ring out the old

Ring in the new,

With greetings gay and wishes true!

Once more the joyous season is here

To wish you a prosperous,

Happy New Year.”

Here’s a lovely card in the Lena Davis Collection, showing the above wish, and a cozy home in winter scene, flocked by three and four-leaf clovers. (A touch of realism there, since four-leaf clovers are harder to find.)

The card is addressed to:  “Miss Lena Davis. Calvert, Kans.”  and the sender wrote,

“Toledo, Ia. Dec. 29, 1914. Dear cousin Lena. Am sorry to hear that you got her.[hurt] Hope you are allright now. We are all well as usal. Will send you a card now and letter later. Wishing you a very Happy New Year. Your sincere cousin. Beulah Davis.”

Divided back, embossed, unused postcard with writing. Dated by the sender December 29, 1914. Publisher unknown. Series 346A.

Price:  $5.00

Sincere Wishes From Sophia Hubbard

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This one is part of what I’m starting to think of as the E. Nash and pre – E. Nash publisher mystery. E. Nash was a postcard publisher about whom not much is known. Oh boy, one of those type. 😉 So, the next posting after this will be an organization of what we have so far for Nash and the possible prior publisher. They both used the same beautiful spiral design in the back header, but Nash used a capital “N” in a triangle for his logo and the prior person used a capital or two capital “A”s in a circle. The publisher logo on this card shows a subtle variation in the circle.

Anyway, this beauty shows a nice winter scene at sunset or sunrise, of a guy in a skiff (easy to miss unless you click on the image to enlarge. You can click again to enlarge one more time.) He is using the skiff’s pole to navigate the little stream, and in the background on the right is (presumably!) his house and on the left, across the stream (very handy) the church he attends (again presumably 😉 ). This is another addressed to Lena Davis of Almeria, Kansas and is from Lena’s cousin, Sophia Hubbard. Sophia writes:

“Pomona Kans.  Oct. 7 – 1913. Dear Cousin Lena. Papa is out west. Has been gone a week to-day and we haven’t heard a line. We are worried almost to death. The baby has the grippe. It has rained twice since he left. I came home last Mon. night. wk. ago. Was glad to get yours & Lillies cards they were all I got. We got a letter from Aunt Katie. They have moved. Wish you a very Happy Birthday. Sophia Hubbard.   Will write you a letter just as soon as I know any thing for sure.”

Yikes! We hope everything turned out fine for Sophia and her family. There are more postcards that we’ll be adding later on to the Lena Davis Collection, so we’ll sort out the different family relations at that time.

Divided back, embossed postcard. Unused with writing. Dated October 7, 1913. Publisher unknown. Possible E. Nash connection. Nash may have obtained the rights to the postcard back header from this unknown publisher.

Price:  $5.00

Hearty Greetings

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Here’s a beauty sent from Arapahoe, Nebraska in 1913, carrying a message of  “Hearty Greetings.”  This postcard is embossed and shows a little scene of a cottage by a lake or river, with some purple hills and a blue sky in the background, framed by a wreath of alternating dark and light blue forget-me-nots, with some larger blue flowers happily appearing out from the sides. Underneath it all is a gold-tone rectangular bar.

This is another in the Lena Davis collection, and the address shows:  “Miss Lena Davis, Almena, Kans.  R.F. D.”

The sender wrote:  “Aug. 24, 1913. I expect you thought I didnt get your card But I did thank you for sending It. I had some pictures taken at Harry Summers[?] and will send you one If they are any good. You ask last time you wrote how I and E. was getting along/ well we are getting along fine.  – as ever P. C.[?]”

Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked August 26, 1913 from Arapahoe, Nebraska. Publisher unknown. Series or number 567.

Price:  $5.00

Here’s A Handshake

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked October 22, 1913 from Long Island, Kansas. Publisher:  E. Nash, series G40.

Price:  $6.00

“Here’s A Handshake – And May You Live A Long Time”

A lovely thought on a postcard of the same, showing an artist’s image in oval of a red-roof house and outbuildings set behind a marshy wetland, with trees and sunset in the background. The oval is nicely framed by lilies of the valley and stylish gold lines.

This is another addressed to  “Lena Davis, Almena, Kan”  and the sender wrote:

“Long Island, Oct. 20. Dear Cousin. I got your card O.K. We have the wheat in the hay stacked after so – a time [?]  I think you might bring the buggy down, that would be a nice ride I think it’s about time. You was coming down anyway – K.”

Probably the sender meant “the wheat and the hay” but directly after this part, I am not sure. It looks like the embossing was making it a little difficult.

A Hearty Greeting

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Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked June 17, 1912, Arapahoe, Nebraska. Publisher unknown – possibly John Winsch.

Price:  $4.00

“June 17, 1912. Dear Cousin Lena. I got your letter saturday. I was away sewing all week. I will be looking for a card most any day to say you are coming. They are going to celebrate the fourth at Gosper. you must be here for that. we will meet you when you come down at the depot. well good by hoping to see you soon   Ellen.”

Addressed to  “Miss Lena Davis, Almena Kans. R. R. #3.”

Another in our collection for Lena. A nice colorful country scene of a couple greeting a neighbor at sunset. The scene is inside an outline of a four-leaf clover and to the right is a small bunch of probably forget-me-nots. The background is unusual in a stone-type gray pattern, and the caption is  “A Hearty Greeting.” This card was postmarked in Arapahoe, Nebraska, but I’m not sure what the stamp above the barely discernible month of June is. Looks like it’s “GPM” but I’m not finding any explanation for this acronym.

There is no stated publisher info on this postcard but the header design was used by publisher John Winsch according to many other sites, and postcards that are showing up online with his info on the front of the card. But it could have been a design that more than one publisher used.

Art Nouveau Violets

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked March 20, 1915. Publisher:  E. Nash. Series or number L-11.

Price:  $10.00

“Greeting you with friendship so warm,

As to pierce the gloom of any storm.”

A stunning Art Nouveau style, embossed postcard showing violets, the above verse, and an unusually “framed” rural rainy day scene, on a sort of pale peach background. The artist depicted a person up there on the path getting caught in the rain. But what about the part where the path crosses over the stream? It just sort of flows magically across the water. Anyway, this is one from the “Lena Davis Collection” and the sender wrote:

“Long Island. March 17. Dear Cousin. how are you. have a cold. how do you like the mud. Ralph went to the sale to day. Harrold[?] is coming home with him. have drove my colts once. did you have a good with Will. the boys are going to Norton tomorrow I guess. did you go Sunday School. guess Irvin Kickly is maried to day that is what I hear. I haven’t made up my mind to go to German yet. …….?…….As ever your Cousin J. K.”

J. K. sent this postcard from Long Island, Kansas. Norton and German are nearby towns. I’m not sure what town this says for Lena. It’s possible it’s a misspelling of Culver, as it looks like Calvert or Colvert which are not showing up as towns in Kansas. Also it’s hard to read the writing on the bottom left and side. Not sure what that says there. It’s interesting to take note of how much is going on in this sender’s message, what with his or her cold, the mud, the colts, Ralph, the boys, Irvin’s supposed marriage, the Sunday School question and the uncertainty of the trip to German, KS (!)

May You Be As Happy…

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“May you be as happy yourself

As you’d like to see anybody else.”

 

This postcard shows a lovely vista of water and shore artistically draped by red flowers and with the above verse. This is the second posted for “The Lena Davis Postcard Collection.” Addressed to:  “Miss Lena Davis, Almena Kan.”  The sender wrote:

“Long Island. Sept. 2   Hello how you [?] am fine and dandy. got home all right had some bad luck while I was gone. I guess you have heard about it, to bad you didn’t have my thing[?] to come for ha, ha. well [we’ll?] come again. say I have gained one pound in 2 days – that is picking up [?]”

This is the third of three in the sort of “mini-look” at an unknown publisher (see the two previous posts) and E. Nash, a known postcard publisher but for whom not much is known. So, here you can see the Nash logo on the front – capital “N” in a triangle, and “Copyright E. Nash” next to the spiral design in the back header surrounding the “C” in Post Card. As previously mentioned, the same postcard header minus the Nash copyright appears on postcards with publisher or printer logo capital “A” or perhaps two capital “A”s inside a circle. The previous postcard submitted on this website is dated 1910 and this one’s dated 1913, so one might surmise that, sometime between the two dates, E. Nash bought out the person or company that was initially using this postcard header, or maybe just bought the rights to the design. I don’t know if there were any other publishers, besides the two in question, who also used this same header, but I haven’t seen any yet. More research needs to be done and more dates looked at on more postcards.

Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked September 3, 1913 from Long Island, Kansas. Publisher:  E. Nash. Series or number G 10.

Price:  $6.00

Lemons And Pink Poppies

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Unable to read postmark location. Postmarked November 15, 1910. Publisher or printer unknown. Logo shows capital “A” or two capital “A”s inside a circle. Series or number 675 – 5.

Price:  $5.00

The sender wrote,  “Did you think I had forgotten you, well I havn’t but ain’t had time to write. we are all well hope you are the same. from cousin Sarah.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Lena Davis, Pomona Kans. c/o J. Johnson.”

I love this one because of the unusual combination on the front of lemons, and I believe those are poppies. Whoever the artist was certainly got it right, as far as those lemons, and their leaves and stems (from someone who has a lemon tree.) We don’t have poppies here at Laurel Cottage (though would like to) but they seem very well done, also.

This is the first one posted in the “Lena Davis Collection.” There will be many more to come. She is a cousin of our friend J. W. Carter, whom we’ve had the pleasure to get to know a little from his postcards to Lena. The Lena Davis cards will not be in date order, as I prefer to post the holiday cards around their proper date, plus wanted to get this one and the following post up as they pertain to publisher E. Nash, about whom not much is known, as of the date of these posts. And also, if you’re following this E. Nash “not much is known about” mystery then please see the prior post, as well.

So, this postcard was done by an unknown publisher or printer, whose logo appears on the back of the card at the bottom right, which is a capital “A” inside a circle, or two capital “A”s inside a circle, depending upon your point of view. The postcard header is very distinctive, (very cool) and the design around the “C” in Card may remind you of a spiral staircase. This header design appears in all the postcards that I’ve seen (so far) with the “A” in circle logo. Shortly after this we start seeing this header with “Copyright E. Nash” appearing to the left of the spiral design. So, perhaps Nash bought out the unknown publisher or printer that did this postcard. This one is dated 1910 and the following one I’ll post is dated 1913. This is just a theory. I don’t know if any other publishers used the spiral design, or the exact dates involved for these two guys (assuming they were men.) We’ll see what else comes along to clarify all of this in the future, and post something accordingly.