Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.

Mailed Aug. 1918 from Beloit. From Fritz to Mrs John Boheim[?], Milwaukee.

The picture

A high view down Grand Avenue: a streetcar on a single track in the center of a wide paved street, an automobile beside it, commercial blocks with striped awnings on both sides, a large ornate block with a pointed turret at left, an American flag on a tall pole and a lattice tower at top right, wooded hills on the horizon.

• Printed caption: Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis.
• Printing: white border · color
• Lettering in the picture: GOLDEN EAGLE (sign, left); […] (lettering on an awning, left, illegible); SNYDER[?] / […]ICLER[?] (sign, right)
• Postmark ink on the picture: short dark bar marks on the left white border, upper left (possibly offset of cancel bars)
• Condition: toning and staining on the border, heavier at the right edge; creases and surface wear; corner wear

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: 8442 · Post Card · ADDR[…] (the rest under the postmark and stamps)
• Stamp: 2 x 1c, green, Washington
• Postmark: BELOIT / AUG […]8[?] / 9 AM / 1918 / WIS. (machine cancel: circular date stamp with wavy-line killer across the stamps)
• Condition: toning; brown stains and creases across the back; surface cracking in the message area

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):

I guess we[?] will
be home saturday
The weather is
just right out
here. This is a
nicer Town than
Janesville. From
Fritz.

Address:

Mrs John Boheim[?]
017 - 32nd Str.
Milwaukee
Wis.

A later hand (the street address repeated in pencil in another hand, perhaps by a postal clerk or a later owner, below the address, large, in pencil): 017-32 St

A later hand (pencil figure, probably a dealer's price, top edge, right of the printed 8442): 5-

A later hand (pencil code, probably a dealer's or collector's code, top edge, left of the stamps): AS15[?]

Reading version

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

I guess we[?] will be home Saturday. The weather is just right out here. This is a nicer town than Janesville. From Fritz.

Who

• Mrs John Boheim[?] — recipient, 017[?] 32nd Str., Milwaukee, Wis.
• Fritz — sender

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1918-08	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1918-08	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	crux (1 word still in question)	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• postmark, day: None (or 8, 18, 28, 3) — the day digits are covered by the printed green 'Card'
• address, line 1, surname: Boheim (or Bohm, Bohim, Bohnn) — the letters after 'Boh' are a run of minims
• address, line 2, house number: 017 (or 817) — the first figure looks like a zero in both the ink and the pencil versions, which is unusual for a house number
• message, line 1: we[?] (or we'll) — the word has an extra upstroke after the e
• later hand, top: AS15 (or A515, ASIS) — faint pencil cut by the top edge

Reader's note: The writer compares Beloit favorably with Janesville ('This is a nicer town than Janesville'). Postage is two 1-cent stamps, i.e. 2 cents.

Scans: 1918-08 - Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1918-08 - Grand Ave., Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 045beb06d152…, d1a28a4ea1aa…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte