C. M. & St. P. Ry. Depot, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed Aug. 1917 from Beloit. From Lucille Nyhagen[?] to Miss Mildred Onsrud[?], Stoughton.

The picture

A brick-paved platform beside the tracks at a red-roofed railway depot; a group of two couples, one woman under a white parasol, walks toward the viewer along a wooden-post rail fence; more travelers farther down the platform; a steam locomotive and cars stand at the platform at right, with other cars on the far tracks and a tall grain elevator or mill building beyond.

• Printed caption: C. M. & ST. P. RY. DEPOT, BELOIT, WIS.
• Printing: white border · color
• Lettering in the picture: BELOIT (name board on the depot)
• Postmark ink on the picture: a gray offset of a wavy-line machine cancel and a circular dater across the sky, upper left and center; the dater's lettering is not legible
• Condition: corner wear; light soiling in the white border

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: THIS SPACE FOR WRITING MESSAGES. · A-60150 · POST CARD · THIS SPACE FOR ADDRESS ONLY. · C T AMERICAN ART
• Stamp: 1c, green, Washington (profile in an oval)
• Postmark: BELOIT / AUG [illegible] / 12 30 PM / 1917 / WIS. (machine cancel with wavy-line killer)
• Condition: toning; a dark smudge at upper left; a diagonal crease or ink stroke through 'St.' and 'Stoughton' at right; faint ghost pencil marks under the message

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, large pencil writing):

Dear Millie
I am in
Beloit. I
am having
such a good
time. I
have been
up to Yost
park a[illegible] [illegible]

Message (back of the card, along the bottom edge across both halves, in ink, written over the last pencil line):

From Lucille Nyhagen[?] c/o Christ Onsrud[?]

Address:

Miss Mildred Onsrud[?]
1106 Park St.
Stoughton.
Wis.

A later hand (a pencil number, probably a collector's or dealer's code, top edge, left of the stamp): #7

Reading version

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

Dear Millie, I am in Beloit. I am having such a good time. I have been up to Yost park a[illegible] [illegible]. From Lucille Nyhagen[?], c/o Christ Onsrud[?]

Who

• Mildred Onsrud[?] (Millie) — recipient, 1106 Park St., Stoughton, Wis.
• Lucille Nyhagen[?] — sender, Beloit, Wis., in care of Christ Onsrud[?]
• Christ Onsrud[?] — named in the sender's care-of line; the household the sender gives as her address

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1917-08	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1917-08	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
card-features	after 1915 to before 1930	white-border era (about 1915 to 1930)

The readings

Part	Status	Readers
caption	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
postmark	single reader	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• address, line 1, surname: Onsrud (or Onorud, Onsrud) — the third letter is a small closed loop that could be s or o
• bottom line, sender's surname: Nyhagen (or Nyhaven, Nyhager) — the middle letters are cramped and the ending runs into the 'c/o'
• bottom line, care-of name: Christ Onsrud (or Christ Onorud) — same surname form as the address; the same s/o ambiguity
• message, last pencil line: park a[illegible] [illegible] (or park and …) — the line is under the ink 'From …' line and at the bottom edge

Reader's note: The message mentions a visit to Yost Park: 'I have been up to Yost park' (the words after 'park' are lost under the ink line). The pencil message is in large letters; the ink address and 'From' line are in a smaller hand that may be a different writer or the same writer in ink. The care-of name shares the recipient's surname.

Scans: 1917-08 - C. M. & St. P. Ry. Depot, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1917-08 - C. M. & St. P. Ry. Depot, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 8ec2b9f298ac…, 71e0bb308a3f…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte