This website is being maintained
in memory of Tom Hennessy
who
made the site possible
OCTOBER
Happy Hallowe’en by
Connie Riter
Over 100 years ago everyone sent not only Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New
Year’s cards, but also special Halloween postcards. Since e-mail and phone messages were not available for another century, they relished these special postcards
saving them in special albums.
Back then Halloween was spelled “Hallowe’en” which means “Saints’ eve” in Scottish. The word “eve” was contracted to e’en. Favorite cards were made in England
by the Raphael Tuck Publishing Company which were publishers for the British King
and Queen and also in Germany where the International Art Publishing Co. had an
office in Berlin as well as in New York.
Most cards could be bought in lots for about 10 cents each and mailed for a penny
stamp. I began collecting postcards in the 70’s which I purchased in New York auctions and now am selling them. One of my recent sales of one Halloween card went
for $30!
Here are some of the “special ones” I have. They show jack-o-lanterns, little children
bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, chasing witches, and lots of black cats being
pulled on leashes. There is no mention of “trick-or-treating” as we did as children.
Some of the cards have little poems. “Let your hearts with joy be light. Sing and
laugh the livelong night.” Another one shows an owl in front of a full moon. Lighted
candles are around the owl. “With Hallowe’en candles burning bright. Beneath the
moon’s bewitching light. May ghosts and goblins grant to you…That all your wishes
shall come true.”
Pictures page
in memory of Tom Hennessy who
made the site possible
OCTOBER
Happy Hallowe’en by
Connie Riter
Over 100 years ago everyone sent not only Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New
Year’s cards, but also special Halloween postcards. Since e-mail and phone messages were not available for another century, they relished these special postcards
saving them in special albums.
Back then Halloween was spelled “Hallowe’en” which means “Saints’ eve” in Scottish. The word “eve” was contracted to e’en. Favorite cards were made in England
by the Raphael Tuck Publishing Company which were publishers for the British King
and Queen and also in Germany where the International Art Publishing Co. had an
office in Berlin as well as in New York.
Most cards could be bought in lots for about 10 cents each and mailed for a penny
stamp. I began collecting postcards in the 70’s which I purchased in New York auctions and now am selling them. One of my recent sales of one Halloween card went
for $30!
Here are some of the “special ones” I have. They show jack-o-lanterns, little children
bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, chasing witches, and lots of black cats being
pulled on leashes. There is no mention of “trick-or-treating” as we did as children.
Some of the cards have little poems. “Let your hearts with joy be light. Sing and
laugh the livelong night.” Another one shows an owl in front of a full moon. Lighted
candles are around the owl. “With Hallowe’en candles burning bright. Beneath the
moon’s bewitching light. May ghosts and goblins grant to you…That all your wishes
shall come true.”
Pictures page
Happy Hallowe’en by
Connie Riter
Over 100 years ago everyone sent not only Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s cards, but also special Halloween postcards. Since e-mail and phone messages were not available for another century, they relished these special postcards saving them in special albums.
Back then Halloween was spelled “Hallowe’en” which means “Saints’ eve” in Scottish. The word “eve” was contracted to e’en. Favorite cards were made in England by the Raphael Tuck Publishing Company which were publishers for the British King and Queen and also in Germany where the International Art Publishing Co. had an office in Berlin as well as in New York. Most cards could be bought in lots for about 10 cents each and mailed for a penny stamp. I began collecting postcards in the 70’s which I purchased in New York auctions and now am selling them. One of my recent sales of one Halloween card went for $30!
Here are some of the “special ones” I have. They show jack-o-lanterns, little children bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, chasing witches, and lots of black cats being pulled on leashes. There is no mention of “trick-or-treating” as we did as children. Some of the cards have little poems. “Let your hearts with joy be light. Sing and laugh the livelong night.” Another one shows an owl in front of a full moon. Lighted candles are around the owl. “With Hallowe’en candles burning bright. Beneath the moon’s bewitching light. May ghosts and goblins grant to you…That all your wishes shall come true.”
Pictures page