Sources / Postcards of Yost Park and Beloit (private collection)
Postcard: Yost Park, Janesville, Wis. (mailed 5 May 1909)
Opening
Yost Park, Janesville, Wis.
Mailed 5 May 1909 from Janesville. From Will. to Mrs. Wm. G. Hoffman, Chicago.
Card pc-009 · postmarked 1909-05-05 Janesville · front
The picture
A grassy riverbank park with a grove of tall young trees, some with reddish foliage, and a lone wooden bench; the river at left with a low wooded far shore under a pink and blue sky.
- Printed caption: YOST PARK, JANESVILLE, WIS.
- Number: 24.
- Printing: colored halftone · color
- Postmark ink on the picture: faint gray wavy lines of a machine cancel killer across the sky, upper left (offset from another card)
- Condition: light wear at the edges; small dark spot on the right edge
Card pc-009 · postmarked 1909-05-05 Janesville · back
The back
- Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
- Printed: THIS SPACE FOR WRITING MESSAGES · Post Card · FOR ADDRESS ONLY
- Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin
- Postmark:
JANESVILLE / MAY 5 / 11-30A / 19 09 / WIS.(machine cancel with wavy-line killer) - Condition: light toning; a faint brown stain at lower right; a crease or scanner line at right edge
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 (front of the card, across the sky, top left, in the sender's pencil-like ink):
May 5th-09
Message (back of the card, left half; the top lines run under the postmark):
5-5[…]
Arrived in Janesville
Late last night
hours late. Business
is good & hope for
more today Will
try to get to Rock-
ford today if
possible Will
be back as soon as
I can Yours
Will.
Address:
Mrs. Wm. G. Hoffman
516 So. Ashland Bvd.
Chicago
Ill.
Reading version
The message joined into sentences, the spelling lightly modernized only where it helps; uncertain words keep their marks.
5-5[…]. Arrived in Janesville late last night, hours late. Business is good and hope for more today. Will try to get to Rockford today if possible. Will be back as soon as I can. Yours, Will.
Who
- Mrs. Wm G. Hoffman — recipient, 516 So. Ashland Bvd, Chicago, Ill.
- Will — sender, writing from Janesville
When
| How | Date | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| filename | 1909-05-05 | the date in the scan's file name |
| postmark | 1909-05-05 | postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made |
| written | 5-5[…] (on the back); May 5th-09 (on the front) | a date written by the sender |
| 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 | crux (1 word still in question) | claude, gemini, gpt |
| message | majority | claude, gemini, gpt |
| signature | in message | claude, gemini, gpt |
Reader's note: The printed caption places Yost Park in Janesville, not Beloit. The message is a travelling businessman's note (arrived late, business good, hopes to reach Rockford) and says nothing about the park. The sender also wrote 'May 5th-09' on the front, matching the postmark day.
Other copies of this view
Scans of the same printed picture that are not cards of this collection (matched by picture fingerprint):
postcard-yost-park-janesville.jpg— source, front
Scans: 1909-05-05 - Yost Park, Janesville, Wis. - 01.png and 1909-05-05 - Yost Park, Janesville, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 3cb82cdac51b…, 787ffe673c8d…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte