Sources / Postcards of Yost Park and Beloit (private collection)
Postcard: Corner of State St. and East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. (mailed 15 July 1911)
Opening
Corner of State St. and East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.
Mailed 15 July 1911 from Poplar Grove. to Miss Clara Fetzer, Milwaukee.
Card pc-019 · postmarked 1911-07-15 Poplar Grove · front
The picture
A dirt street intersection with streetcar tracks curving across the foreground; a two-storey brick corner block with arched windows and striped awnings at centre right; a taller brick building with a 'DRY GOODS' sign at left, with crates on the sidewalk and a group of men and women in front; utility poles and wires.
- Printed caption: Corner of State St. and East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.
- Publisher: […]ROPP[?] CO. […] PUB. MILWAUKEE[?] […] 4609 (tiny red line along the bottom edge, mostly illegible)
- Number: 4609
- Printing: colored halftone · color
- Lettering in the picture: DRY GOODS (signboard, left building); [illegible]'S / [illegible] (black hanging sign on a pole at the corner block, right)
- Condition: corner wear, especially lower left; a thin dark scratch line through the imprint at bottom centre
Card pc-019 · postmarked 1911-07-15 Poplar Grove · back
The back
- Layout: undivided back (the whole back for the address)
- Printed: SOUVENIR MAIL CARD. · THIS SIDE FOR ADDRESS ONLY. · […] / […]da / […]ng / a message. (printed in the stamp box, mostly covered by the stamp)
- Stamp box: […] / […]da / […]ng / a message.
- Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin
- Postmark:
POPLAR GROVE / JUL / 15 / 4 PM / 1911 / ILL.(circular date stamp, with wavy-line killer on the stamp) - Condition: darkened triangles at all four corners from album mounting corners; light soiling
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.
Address:
Miss Clara Fetzer,
# 601 - N. 24th Street,
Milwaukee,
Wisc.
Who
- Miss Clara Fetzer — recipient, 601 N. 24th Street, Milwaukee, Wis.
When
| How | Date | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| filename | 1911-07-15 | the date in the scan's file name |
| postmark | 1911-07-15 | postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made |
| card-features | before 1907-03-01 | undivided back: printed for the rules before 1 Mar. 1907 (a printing date, not a use date) |
The readings
| Part | Status | Readers |
|---|---|---|
| caption | all agree | claude, gemini, gpt |
| postmark | crux (the town, day still in question) | claude, gemini, gpt |
| address | majority | claude, gemini, gpt |
| signature | in message |
Uncertain readings:
- front imprint: […]ROPP CO. […] MILWAUKEE […] 4609 — tiny, blurred red type; only the number 4609 is clear
Reader's note: Used but carries no message: the undivided back allowed only the address, and nothing is written on the front. Mailed from Poplar Grove, Illinois, not from Beloit. Album-corner marks on the back show it was once mounted.
Scans: 1911-07-15 - Corner of State St. and East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1911-07-15 - Corner of State St. and East Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 b6b372a9cf8b…, 0e4f469d9e91…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte