Back in the first decade of the twentieth century, picture postcards were the Facebook Posts of their day, and an almost endless supply of images was created so they could have messages attached to them, stamps stuck to them, and postcard albums filled with them. Imagine the excitement in Rochdale when a new picture of … Continue reading Tram Shelter On Broadway
Tag: Vintage Postcards
Edwardian AI
This early twentieth century picture postcard image of the approach to Halifax Railway Station has the look of something that has been created by a cut-price AI image colourising programme. It wasn't; it was created by the Edwardian equivalent, a cut-price studio assistant with instructions to make the hills green, the sky blue, and the … Continue reading Edwardian AI
The Only Decent Place In Fixby
This early twentieth century picture postcard has a fine view of Fixby Hall, which was one of the ancestral homes of the Thornhill family, but, by the time of this postcard, it had become the home of Huddersfield Golf Club. The message on the back of the card claims that the Hall is the "only … Continue reading The Only Decent Place In Fixby
A Postcard From Keighley
A POSTCARD FROM KEIGHLEY Few things can provide a mirror to social history better than the humble picture postcard. On the one side you have the view, and although, as the 20th century progressed, these became more romanticised and stereotypical, in the early years they were often raw and real: horse muck and gaslights. On … Continue reading A Postcard From Keighley
Dark Satanic Exclamation Marks
On the second part of our walk around Halifax in the 1930s, note the snow around Halifax Parish Church (nothing changes, does it?), and the black spire of the town hall punctuating the smoke-stacked atmosphere. And note the mills, as dark and satanic as any Blake poem, punctuating the life of the town, their chimneys … Continue reading Dark Satanic Exclamation Marks
Half A Walk
I'm inviting you to come and take a walk around Halifax in the 1930 courtesy of an old picture postcard from my collection. Or rather, half a picture postcard - the image is so full of fascinating detail I have divided it into two and you can see the second half tomorrow. You can start … Continue reading Half A Walk
Happy Christmas
A Happy Christmas to all my friends out there on the various social media platforms.
The Shape Of History
The raw shape of this scene is not all that different now to what it was when this postcard was first published more than a hundred years ago. Most of these buildings in this corner of Halifax are still in place: there's more traffic these days, of course, and those elaborate tram poles are long … Continue reading The Shape Of History
On Morecambe Sands
By the second decade of the twentieth century, the spread of cheaper cameras meant that it was possible to have picture postcards made from your own photographs, and such postcards became the WhatsApp messages of their day. The message on the back of this card tells us that these children were enjoying a donkey ride … Continue reading On Morecambe Sands
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