Yost Park, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 26 April 1908 from Beloit. From Anna. M. B. to Mr. Joe Marks, Stoughton.

The picture

Children on and beside moored rowboats at a low wooden landing on a wide calm river; a wooded shore curves away to the right with strollers in white under the trees.

• Printed caption: YOST PARK, BELOIT, WIS.
• Publisher: THE BELOIT NOVELTY STORE, BELOIT, WIS
• Printing: halftone · monochrome
• Lettering in the picture: ARETHA[?] (on the bow of the white boat, foreground)
• Postmark ink on the picture: a mirror-image offset of a Beloit flag machine cancel across the sky, upper left: read reversed it shows the same APR 26 / 7-PM / 19 08 die and flag as this card's own back, so it was transferred from another card cancelled in the same run, face to face

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · The space above is reserved for Postmark · THIS SPACE IS RESERVED FOR MESSAGE. · THIS SPACE FOR ADDRESS ONLY.
• Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin
• Postmark: BELOIT / APR 26 / 7-PM / 19 08 / WIS. (machine cancel with flag killer)

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.

Message (back of the card, left half, the lines running into the printed divider):

Dear Friend
I received your
Postal and was
very glad to.
hear. from you.
I am feeling
fine and dandy
Hoping to find
you the same
From.
Anna. M. B.

Address:

Mr. Joe Marks,
121 West. Randolph,
Stoughton,
Wis;

Reading version

The message joined into sentences, the spelling lightly modernized only where it helps; uncertain words keep their marks.

Dear Friend, I received your postal and was very glad to hear from you. I am feeling fine and dandy. Hoping to find you the same. From Anna M. B.

Who

• Joe Marks — recipient, 121 West Randolph, Stoughton, Wis.
• Anna M. B. — sender

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1908-04-26	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1908-04-26	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
card-features	after 1907-03-01	divided back: allowed in the US from 1 Mar. 1907

The readings

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

Uncertain readings:

• front, bow lettering: ARETHA (or ALETHA) — small, blurred halftone lettering

Reader's note: The message says nothing about Yost Park; it is a reply to a postal card ('I received your postal'). The front carries a reversed offset of a cancel with the same date and time as this card's own postmark.

Other copies of this view

Scans of the same printed picture that are not cards of this collection (matched by picture fingerprint):

• postcard-BELOIT WI VIEW AT YOST PARK WITH YOUNG GIRLS AT LAKE AND CANOE POSTCARD (H-48-2).webp — source, front

Scans: 1908-04-26 - Yost Park, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1908-04-26 - Yost Park, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 91b724aa2624…, 3740aa357193…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte