Tuesday Treasures - March 24, 2026

A few weeks ago I wrote that I may have bought "a few" packs of postcards at St. Vincent de Paul.  What I meant was I bought 116 packs of two (or three in one case)!  Only two or three were repeats, but I wanted the other postcards in the packs.  This time they were wise enough to package them back to back so buyers could see both cards.  They don't always do that!  Many were antiques. That was the surprising thing.  I get the idea they only "antiques" they think are worth more are the holiday ones.  

Here are some groups.  

Foreign (they from Cuba, Israel, Italy, Mexico, England, France, Canada... more!), Buildings, Factories, Travel Hubs (airports, train stations)

Large Letter, Vintage Street Views, Landscapes 

I'd not seen a foreign Large Letter before, so this Canadian one was exciting!

Two of my most interesting are these...

Souvenir of  the War of 1914, unused from Belgium

This was likely printed between August and October, 1914 (when thoughts were the war would be short-lived), before fall of Antwerp on Oct. 10 to German forces.  It would have been the first wave of patriotic/commemorative postcards printed, and after October 10th the optimistic tone, and the word "souvenir" would disappear.  The image is of Jan De Vos, then Burgomaster, or mayor, of Antwerp.

Tarasque c. 1908-1918 

So, this is a Tarasque, but what in the world is a Tarasque?  A legendary monster in southern France who terrorized travelers along the Rhone River, until Saint Martha tamed it with prayer and gentleness.  Then the townspeople killed it.  The event was then memorialized annually with an annual procession including the pictured festival effigy.  Every few decades the design of the effigy was changed a bit, so this postcard can be dated by the effigy style of 1910. 

The text under the image reads, 

229. THE TARASQUE OF TARASCON

Monster which, according to tradition, ravaged the banks of the Rhône and which was tamed by Saint Martha. The people of Tarascon celebrate their deliverance by exhibiting a representative of this monster through the streets of the city.

The verse at the upper right is from Mistral’s Mireille (1859), a scene with dancing and shouting, not related to the Tarasque celebration.

“Ah! how the old witch ran!
Lagadigadèu, the Tarasque,
What dancing, what shouts of joy,
And what stamping of feet.”

Mireille, canto X

A couple of the foreign ones... 

Egypt

Multi-view of Suez Canal copyright 1909.  Part of the Roosevelt Tour series.  Led by former President Theodore Roosevelt, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and sponsored by The Smithsonian the purpose was to collect specimens.  While a hunter, Roosevelt was also a conservationist.  He disapproved of trophy hunting, supporting it only to benefit wildlife and their environments. 

Scotland c. 1910-1914

The last three are interesting to me.  Two are of the Great Flood of 1913, one from Indiana, one from Ohio.  

This one from Ohio was postmarked in May 1913, eight weeks after the flood.  It didn't take that long for these real photo postcards to be published though.  And if you noticed, as I did, that their quality is not like most RPPCs, that because they aren't.  Because of the time it took to get newspapers printed, offices had blank postcards available for special editions, as it were.  They'd rush a photographer with a cheap box camera out to scenes and get the images printed onto these black cards asap. 

Then, there was the Ohio River Flood of 1937. Jeffersonville was one of the hardest hit cities in Indiana.  The Pennsylvania Railroad line behind town was heavily damaged. 

Interesting that someone collected vintage flood postcards, or perhaps the quickly printed "news" postcards.  I'll keep my eyes out for more!