Grand Avenue from Bridge, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 15 Oct. 1919 from Beloit. From Ida[?] P. (on the front) to Mrs Jacob Philhower, Newtown.

The picture

A business street seen from the bridge end: streetcar tracks run up an unpaved roadway between two- and three-story commercial buildings; horse-drawn delivery wagons and buggies stand at the left curb and in the street; a streetcar in the middle distance; at right a building with a second-floor porch and an outside stair, covered in signs; a turreted corner building in the distance.

• Printed caption: Grand Avenue from Bridge, Beloit, Wis.
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Lettering in the picture: BAKERY; ROBERT BURNS / CIGAR; SIGNS; RESTAURANT; JEWELER / UP STAIRS; [illegible] / JEWELER (lower sign at right); Keene / Cigar[?]; TH[…] / WIN[…] / Sells Nothin[g …] / and Liquor[s …]; COMING[?] [illegible] (balcony sign)
• Condition: edge wear; light soiling

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: THIS SPACE FOR CORRESPONDENCE · POST CARD · THIS SPACE FOR ADDRESS ONLY · Published by The Acmegraph Co. Chicago, Ill. · 2976
• Stamp box: [illegible] (a red ruled frame behind the stamp; the words in it are covered by the stamp, ending '…WO' at right)
• Stamp: 1c, green, Franklin (profile in an oval)
• Postmark: BELOIT / OCT 1[?] / [illegible] / 19 10[?] / WIS. (machine cancel with wavy-line killer)
• Condition: toning; the message is cramped and crosses the postmark and the printed publisher line; the last lines run into the card's left 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 (front of the card, across the sky, top, in the sender's ink, continuing to the left below the caption):

Have give up going
West. Am having such a time
with my eye.

Message (front of the card, on the sidewalk, lower center):

Ida[?] P.

Message (back of the card, left half, over the postmark, written sideways, reading downward (turn the card 90 degrees counterclockwise to read); first line next to the dividing line, lines running off the top edge):

OCT 15 [illegible].
Dear mother and all,
Both are well & fine. but
[…] have been so busy all summer.
[…]l have been getting ready to go
[…]to. Dakota this fall. but guess Ill
give up going till Spring.
We were married two places last night.
[…]I havent house cleaned yet but will
start the first of week. We are having
lovely weather but pretty cold nights
and mornings. Lois was over and old[?]
[illegible] so glad
[illegible]

Address:

Mrs Jacob Philhower.
Newtown.
Ohio.
Hamilton Co.

A later hand (a pencil price, top edge, left of the stamp): 30¢

Reading version

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

OCT 15 [illegible]. Dear mother and all, Both are well and fine, but […] have been so busy all summer. […]l have been getting ready to go [t]o Dakota this fall, but guess I'll give up going till spring. We were married two places last night. I haven't house cleaned yet but will start the first of week. We are having lovely weather but pretty cold nights and mornings. Lois was over and old[?] [illegible] so glad [illegible]. (On the front:) Have give up going West. Am having such a time with my eye. Ida[?] P.

Who

• Mrs Jacob Philhower — recipient, addressed as 'Dear mother and all', Newtown, Hamilton Co., Ohio
• Lois — named in the message; someone who 'was over'
• Ida[?] P. — sender (signature on the front), Beloit, Wis. (postmark)

When

How	Date	Basis
postmark	1919-10-15	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
written	[O]ct. 13[?] (the year after it is not legible)	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 town, year still in question)	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	single reader	claude

Uncertain readings:

• message, line 12: old (or did) — the word runs to the card's edge
• front, signature: Ida P. (or Ada P.) — the first capital has an extra crossing stroke
• address, line 1: Philhower (or Philhowe, Phillhower) — the ending trails off

Reader's note: The sender had planned to go to Dakota ('West') this fall but has given it up till spring, partly because of trouble with her eye (front). The message is written sideways and crosses the postmark, which hides the postmark's day and year.

Scans: Grand Avenue from Bridge, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and Grand Avenue from Bridge, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 d385bb28f1f4…, e3c3d4f57a44…). Media: front — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1080, 688]; back — the scanner's white edge trimmed: kept pixels [0, 0, 1084, 687]