Wooden postcard of Russia - front and back

Wood postcards have been produced and sold in the U.S. as keepsakes.
Postcardy.com Wooden postcards were sold for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair held in

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

. Many included puns associated with wood: "Exposition is more than oak-a", "it is ash-tonishing", I wood spruce up and come", "You walnut regret it." and "Butternut delay". The

Lewis and Clark Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide World's fair, exposition h ...

of 1905 and the

Jamestown Exposition The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it w ...

of 1907 included wooden postcard

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

s. The tradition of folksy puns continued in later wooden postcard lines. Others feature images, cartoons, advertisements and event commemorations. Japanese Wood Novelty Co. in Providence, Rhode Island produced wooden postcards designed for photo insertion. They included gummed paper backing. Bowman Studios was a

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

based producer of

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

wood postcards in the 1940s.Martha Stewart magazine July/August 2013 Images on their wooden postcards included

azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Octob ...

s, red

hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

s and a Carolina landscape.Wooden Postcards: Part 2—Vintage Cards
Postcardy.com Many early wood postcards are printed with colored images while others were marked by

pyrography Pyrography or pyrogravure is the free handed art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning. The term means "w ...

(woodburning) or a combination of the two processes. Wooden postcards usually require the one ounce letter rate postage. Thus the postage used can help date the cards, for example 3 Cent stamps were used for one ounce letters from 1932 to 1958. Wooden postcards light enough for the postcard rate required 1 cent postage until 1952; 2 cents from 1952 to 1958; and 3 cents from 1958 to 1963. The postage rates were once commonly printed on the cards. Select wooden postcards with

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

designs were made. B.B. Quality Line produced bird's eye maple wooden postcards in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, including

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the or ...

themed cards. Grison's Steak & Chop House and Grison's Chicken House, restaurants in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, advertised its menu on wooden postcards for several years including 1939. Dixie Novelty Co. in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

produced

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

themed wooden postcards.

References

{{reflist Postcards