East Grand Avenue, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed Sept. 1912 from Beloit. From minnie H[?] to Mrs. G Haskins[?], Baraboo.

The picture

A business street with streetcar tracks curving away into the distance; a row of two- and three-story brick commercial buildings with a striped awning at left, a corner building with a domed turret at right; a few pedestrians on the left sidewalk and a horse-drawn wagon in the street at right.

• Printed caption: East Grand Avenue, Beloit, Wis.
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Lettering in the picture: BAKER / OWL / CIGARS / NOW (painted wall sign, with owl eyes and a clock face); 5-10 CENT STORE; SIGNS; BILL[?] JO[…] / THE / HABERDASHER[?] (shaped sign at right)
• Condition: slight edge wear

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: POST CARD · This side for address · Pub. by F. M. Palmiter, Janesville, Wis.
• Stamp: 1c, green, Washington (profile in an oval)
• Postmark: BELOIT / SEP / [illegible]5 PM / 1912 / WIS. (machine cancel: circular date stamp with a straight-bar killer)
• Condition: foxing and brown spots, heaviest at upper right and lower right; the last line of the message is at the bottom 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 (back of the card, left half):

Beloit wis[?]
Sept 11[?], 1912[?]
Dear mother.
I will send you a.
card. how are you
getting a long. I
am fine. Robert has
call for papa. two
or three times. he has
got a little cold. well
Good by from your
Daughter[?] minnie H[?].

Address:

Mrs. G Haskins[?].
Baraboo wis.
729. 2nd ave.

Reading version

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

Beloit, Wis.[?], Sept 11[?], 1912[?]. Dear mother, I will send you a card. How are you getting along? I am fine. Robert has call for papa two or three times. He has got a little cold. Well, good by from your Daughter[?] Minnie H[?].

Who

• Mrs. G Haskins[?] — recipient, addressed as 'Dear mother', 729 2nd Ave., Baraboo, Wis.
• Robert — named in the message; apparently the sender's child, who 'has call for papa'
• papa — named in the message; apparently the sender's husband or the recipient's husband
• minnie H[?] — sender, the recipient's daughter, Beloit, Wis.

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1912-09	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1912-09	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
written	Sept 11[?], 1912[?]	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	crux (the day still in question)	claude, gemini, gpt
address	crux (1 word still in question)	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini

Uncertain readings:

• message, line 2 (date): Sept 11, 1912 (or Sept 1, 1912, Sept 11, 1911) — the date figures run through the postmark and merge with its own figures
• message, line 1: wis (or Wis.) — the word is under the top of the postmark
• address, line 1: Haskins (or Hoskins, Koskins) — the capital is written like a k with a loop
• message, signature: minnie H (or minnie K, minnie H. (surname initial)) — the last letter is a looped capital at the bottom edge
• postmark, time: [illegible]5 PM (or 2 55 PM, 6 55 PM) — the handwritten date crosses the postmark's time line; a '55' or '65' and 'PM' show
• message, line 12: Daughter (or Dawghter) — the word is at the bottom edge and partly cut; spelled as normally written

Reader's note: The sender wrote her own place and date at the top left, and the postmark was struck over it, so the postmark's day cannot be separated from the handwriting.

Scans: 1912-09 - East Grand Avenue, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1912-09 - East Grand Avenue, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 16784f3a50dc…, 97f58834e7cc…). Media: front — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1091, 702]; back — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1089, 702]