River Scene, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 20 Sept. 1910 from Beloit. From Mrs. Schroeder to Miss Johanna Helbing, Beaver Dam.

The picture

From a grassy, wooded bank framed by tree trunks and overhanging branches, the view looks down to a still river with marshy islands and a low wooded hill on the far side; a small boat with two people floats at right.

• Printed caption: RIVER SCENE, BELOIT, WIS.
• Number: NO. 4236
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Condition: light corner wear; the scan shows horizontal color banding across the picture (scan or print artifact)

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · This Space for Address only.
• Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin
• Postmark: BELOIT / SEP 20 / 6-30P[?] / 19 10 / WIS. (machine cancel with flag killer (flag with stars and wavy stripes))
• Condition: toning; a small pink spot in the message area; a faint ghost of printed lettering in the address area (offset or show-through)

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, message space; the first line runs under the postmark; the last line is cut off at the left edge of the scan, written sideways, reading top to bottom (turn the card 90 degrees counterclockwise to read)):

Dear Friend:
We were very glad
to receive your cards, for
we enjoyed your stay with
us very much. We are all
in good health and hope
you to be the same. With
best regards from us all &
hoping to hear from you again
[…] the friend[…]

Message (back of the card, bottom of the message space, written across the ends of the sideways lines):

Mrs. Schroeder.

Address:

Miss Johanna Helbing,
509 N. Spring St.,
Beaver Dam
Wisconsin.

A later hand (pencil figure, probably a dealer's price, top edge, above the stamp, partly cut off): 1.30[?]

Reading version

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

Dear Friend: We were very glad to receive your cards, for we enjoyed your stay with us very much. We are all in good health and hope you to be the same. With best regards from us all and hoping to hear from you again […] the friend[…]. Mrs. Schroeder.

Who

• Miss Johanna Helbing — recipient, 509 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
• Mrs. Schroeder — sender

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1910-09-20	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1910-09-20	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	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• postmark, time: 6-30P (or 5-30P, 6-00P) — the digits are faintly struck
• message, last line: […] the friend[…] (or your friends, the Friends) — only the tops of the letters are visible at the left edge of the scan
• later hand: 1.30 (or 1.50) — cut off by the top edge of the scan

Reader's note: The message thanks the recipient for cards sent after a visit ('we enjoyed your stay with us'). The signature is written horizontally while the message is sideways.

Scans: 1910-09-20 - River Scene, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1910-09-20 - River Scene, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 eac642b886cb…, b032f1ba9c92…). Media: front — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1100, 696]; back — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1100, 700]