Boat Landing at Yosts Park, between Janesville and Beloit

Mailed 13 May 1910 from Beloit. From Florence to Mr. Raymond Williams, Elkhorn.

The picture

A grassy riverbank at a park landing: a launch with seated passengers and moored rowboats at a plank dock at left, men in dark suits standing on the bank, a dog on the dock, and a group of women in white with a parasol under large trees at right.

• Printed caption: BOAT LANDING AT YOSTS PARK, BETWEEN JANESVILLE AND BELOIT.
• Publisher: [illegible] (a vertical imprint along the extreme left edge, almost entirely cut off by the scan)
• Number: [illegible] (tops of four digits visible at the left edge)
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Postmark ink on the picture: faint circular postmark and a dotted line of a cancel offset in the sky, upper center-right (from another card)
• Condition: light edge wear; faint offset marks in the sky

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · This Space for Address only.
• Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin (profile, in oval with laurel)
• Postmark: BELOIT / MAY 13 / 2-45P / 19 10 / WIS. (machine cancel with American flag killer)
• Condition: toning; slight soiling at the right edge; top edge clips a line of writing

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 (left edge of some lines clipped by the scan)):

[…] (lower tails of a line cut off by the top edge)
May. 13-19[?]10[?]
Dear Ray[?]! I am
writing to let you
know that Carlos
has Scarlet Fever. I
just heard it this
morning & noticed this
noon the sign was on
I haven't heard whether,
Fannie is shut in or not.
I feel awful sorry for them
to think they half to be in so
long.   Yours Florence.

Address:

Mr. Raymond Williams,
Elkhorn.
R.R.# 2.          Wis.

Reading version

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

May 13-19[?]10[?]. Dear Ray[?]! I am writing to let you know that Carlos has scarlet fever. I just heard it this morning and noticed this noon the sign was on. I haven't heard whether Fannie is shut in or not. I feel awful sorry for them to think they half [have] to be in so long. Yours, Florence.

Who

• Raymond Williams — recipient, Elkhorn, Wis., R.R. #2
• Ray[?] — recipient (salutation)
• Florence — sender
• Carlos — mentioned: has scarlet fever
• Fannie — mentioned: may be shut in (quarantined)

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1910-05-13	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1910-05-13	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
written	May. 13-19[?]10[?]	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	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
postmark	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
address	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• message, date line: May. 13-19[?]10[?] (or May. 13-10, May. 13-1910) — after '13-1' the pen makes a looped figure and then runs into the postmark, where scribbled figures cross the year; 'May. 13' is clear
• message, line 1: Ray (or Raif) — the y has a long looped descender followed by a ! mark
• top edge: [illegible] — only the descenders of a line of writing survive below the top edge of the scan

Reader's note: Message reports a scarlet-fever quarantine: a quarantine sign went up at Carlos's home the noon of writing. Nothing about Yost Park. 'half to' is the writer's spelling of 'have to'.

Other copies of this view

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

• 1909 Boat Landing Yosts Park WI Wisconsin Kropp Co (A2)-b.png — source, back
• 1909 Boat Landing Yosts Park WI Wisconsin Kropp Co (A2).png — source, front
• postcard-yost-park.png — source, front
• postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park-copy-2 (postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park-copy-2-back.png) — vault image, back
• postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park-copy-2 (postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park-copy-2-front.png) — vault image, front
• postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park (postcard-kropp-4839-boat-landing-at-yosts-park.jpg) — vault image, front

Scans: 1910-05-13 - Boat Landing at Yosts Park, between Janesville and Beloit - 01.png and 1910-05-13 - Boat Landing at Yosts Park, between Janesville and Beloit - 02.png (sha256 2121e40036aa…, 618d9c91ee27…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte