East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.

Undated. to Miss Minnie Plauten[?], Chicago.

The picture

A business street seen from a wide unpaved crossing: two- and three-story commercial blocks with awnings at left, a streetcar standing at the curb, a two-story corner building at right with a horse and buggy and a group of people in front of it; utility poles and wires overhead.

• Printed caption: EAST GRAND AVE. BELOIT, WIS.
• Publisher: E. C. KROPP, MILWAUKEE.
• Printing: halftone · monochrome
• Lettering in the picture: CA[illegible] / DRUG / [illegible] (painted sign on the right-hand building)
• Condition: light soiling and pale stains in the blank right margin; corners slightly worn

The back

• Layout: undivided back (the whole back for the address)
• Printed: Post Card · THIS SIDE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE ADDRESS
• Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin
• Postmark: BELOIT / MAY 24 / 4-30P / 19 .6 / WIS. (machine cancel with flag killer (flag with the numeral 1))
• Condition: toning; diagonal marks across all four corners from album mounting corners; light soiling

Exact copy

Line for line as written. [?] follows an uncertain word; [illegible] marks one that cannot be read; ~~ ~~ is crossed out, ^ ^ written above the line, […] runs off the card.

Address:

Miss Minnie Plauten[?]
1696 Buckingham Pl.[?]
Chicago
Ill

A later hand (a pencil figure, probably a dealer's price (10.00), top edge, above the stamp): 10⁰⁰

Who

• Minnie Plauten[?] — recipient, 1696 Buckingham Pl., Chicago, Ill.

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1906-05-24	the date in the scan's file name
card-features	before 1907-03-01	undivided back: printed for the rules before 1 Mar. 1907 (a printing date, not a use date)

The readings

Part	Status	Readers
caption	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
postmark	single reader	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message

Uncertain readings:

• address, line 1, surname: Plauten (or Planten, P. Lauten, Plautin) — the large P is set apart from the rest of the word and the letters after 'la' are a run of humps that could be u or n; the ending is a trailing stroke
• address, line 2: Buckingham Pl. (or Buckingham St.) — the last word runs into the right edge and is an abbreviated capital with a small mark
• postmark, year: 19 .6 (or 1906, 1916) — the third digit of the year did not print; only '19' and '6' are visible

Reader's note: No message anywhere on the card: the back is address-only and the white writing space on the front is blank. The back's printed 'Post Card' is a faint ornamental script under the postmark.

Scans: 1906-05-24 - East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1906-05-24 - East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 d85f3cb240f7…, 6bd3340aa272…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte