My Oldest Card

This week, I received in the mail, the oldest post card that is in my collection. While it is not obvious that this is a train post card, it belongs in my collection. The two pictures on the front of the card are of train stations and there are little trolley cars in front of both buildings. And, trolleys are part train so they are in my collection categorized under either “Electric” or “Special Cards”. The building on the left is the Philadelphia and Reading (pronounced redding)Railroad (We usually just refer to it as the Reading Railroad as in the Monopoly game) Company’s terminal that was opened in 1893. The building on the right hand side is the station for the Pennsylvania Railroad (P.R.R.). The first half of the station, with the grayish roof, was completed in 1881; the rest of the building became operational in 1893.

At this location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Company Wickipedia has a history of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The Reading Company Technical and Historical Society can be found by going to this location: http://www.readingrailroad.org/ The Pennsylvania Railroad is at this location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society at this location: http://www.prrths.com/ has some interesting writing about the PRR.

This card was given out (not sure why, but it is the 5th anniversary of the completion of both buildings) by the Philadelphia Press on Sunday, January 16, 1898. That makes this card 114 years old! It was printed by George S. Harris & Sons. By 1898 George had died and his sons had taken the business to New York where they merged with several other companies to form the American Lithograph company. Notice on the back that this is technically NOT a post card. It is a Mail Card. Until May 19, 1898 The United States Postal Office was the only “company” allowed to print Postal Cards and to print the term “post card” on them. Then, Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which allowed private firms to print and publish cards. The law said that the words "Private Mailing Card" had to be printed on the cards produced by private businesses. The nice thing about this law was that private mailing cards cost one cent to mail instead of the two cent letter rate being charged at that time by the Post Office. But, still, only the Post Office was allowed to print the words "Post Card" on the back of post cards. Private printers added such terms as Mail Card, Souvenir Card, etc.