The Busy Street, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 31 Aug. 1909 from Beloit. From Sara to Mrs. C Sweet[?], Baraboo.

The picture

A crowded street intersection: a large building with two tiers of covered balconies at left, awnings over shopfronts, a streetcar coming toward the viewer on curving tracks, horse-drawn buggies at left, and a dense crowd, many in white. A girl in a pink top and pale blue skirt crosses the foreground. A pointed-roof tower and a square tower with a red roof and clock face rise in the distance.

• Printed caption: THE BUSY STREET, BELOIT, WIS.
• Publisher: E. C. KROPP CO., PUB., MILWAUKEE, NO. 4394
• Number: 4394
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Lettering in the picture: streetcar front panel numbers, illegible
• Postmark ink on the picture: faint offset of a circular datestamp and lettering in the sky at upper center, between the two towers (from another card)
• Condition: light corner wear; the scan shows horizontal color banding across the image; the imprint at bottom right is faded

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · This Space for Address only
• Stamp: 1c, green, profile bust in an oval, facing left (no name on the stamp)
• Postmark: BELOIT / AUG 31 / 9-15A / 19 09 / WIS. (machine cancel with flag killer)
• Condition: toning; the pencil message is faint

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 datestamp struck over the right ends of lines 2 to 6):

Dear mama,
On what train can I come
home on so that I don't
have to change. I am
going uptown and
to Fairbanks
John is a
going to take us
to the therater
Saturday night
we have had loots
of fun.
By-By
From Sara

Address:

Mrs. C Sweet[?]
Baraboo
Wis
700 Walnut[…]

Reading version

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

Dear mama, On what train can I come home on so that I don't have to change. I am going uptown and to Fairbanks John is a going to take us to the therater Saturday night. We have had loots of fun. By-by, from Sara

Who

• Mrs. C Sweet[?] — recipient, addressed by the writer as 'mama', 700 Walnut[…], Baraboo, Wis.
• Sara — sender
• John — named in the message; taking the writer to the theater Saturday night

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1909-08-31	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1909-08-31	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	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• address, line 1: Sweet (or Bweet, C. B. Sweet) — the capital after 'C' has a straight stem and two bowls like a B

Reader's note: Same photograph as the Kropp card 'East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.' (No. 4304), here retitled 'The Busy Street' with No. 4394. The writer is a visitor in Beloit asking her mother which train to take home to Baraboo. 'fair Banks morse' most likely refers to Fairbanks, Morse and Co., the Beloit manufacturer, but the writing itself only shows 'fair Ban[ks] / morse'. Written in pencil.

Scans: 1909-08-31 - The Busy Street, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1909-08-31 - The Busy Street, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 c96fc6b0f7d3…, 869c0e9f6ffc…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte