Castillo San Cristobal in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico
San Juan National Historic Site
Castillo San Cristobal

Castillo San Cristobal was built to guard enemy approaches by land to the walled city of Old San Juan.  Construction on San Cristobal began in 1634 and finished in 1790, although modifications were made well into the 18th century.  Covering 27 acres, San Cristobal is the largest Spanish fortification built in the New World, and from a perch 150 feet above the Atlantic shoreline, it provides panoramic views of the coast from Old San Juan to Condado and beyond.

Photo: J. Scott Graham

This postcard is postmarked in 2014 from San Juan Puerto Rico.

USA stamp 2013

Global

Christmas Evergreen Wreath

Forever an International Rate stamp

A Dutch Boy Rescuing a Cat from a Well

Art by W. Romijn

The sender writes:
A card from Holland.  The picture is from 75 / 100 years ago.  No modern things and material things.  Life was simple but also hard and difficult.  Was it better or not than nowadays?

This 'boy with wooden shoes rescuing his cat from the well' is postmarked in 2015 from the Netherlands.  The stamp has a bicycle on it so it kind of matches the postcard.  :D

Netherlands (Nederland) stamp 2014

Dutch Icons, Bicycle, 1

A 1952 Dodge in Havana, Cuba

Dodge 1952.
Havanna, 2008. marcius 4.
(Havana, March 4th, 2008)

Foto: ifj. Kovach Laszlo
(Photo: jr. Laszlo Kovach)

This postcard is unused.  The original language is Hungarian. 

Happy Mothers Day - A Panda Bear Mom Hugging Her Cub in 3D

Giant Panda - cub in mother's lap (China)
BroBer Panda - Mutter und Junges (China)
Panda gigante- Madre y cria (China)
Panda géant - Femelle et jeune (Chine)

Photo: Steve Bloom

This 3D postcard is unused and was bought in 2014. 

Closing Niagara Falls in 1969 - This Card is for International Postcard Week

International Postcard Week
October 5 - 11, 2014

This postcard feats the artwork of Rick Geary and shows the Canadian and the USA side of the Niagara Falls.  The US side was turned off in 1969.

The back of the card reads:
For six months in 1969 Niagara's American Falls were turned off by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Part of that time workers cleaned the former river-bottom of unwanted mosses, drilled test-cores in search of instabilities and a temporary walkway was built twenty feet from the edge of the dry falls.  Tourists were able to explore the landscape.

This card is postmarked in 2014 with a USA Hummingbird stamp.

The sender of this card is Demaris.  She is the person who organizes National Postcard Week. If you would like more information on that the web site is: www.NationalPostcardWeek.com

Click this link if you would like more information on International Postcard Week.  

WWI Hospitals in Germany, Real Photo Postcards

1914

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postmarked in 1915

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Erinnerung an (Memory of)

Nurnberg (Nuremberg) 

Bismarkschule

1914-1916 

Ziner 39 ?? (I can't make out these letters for sure on the sign.)

This one is postmarked in 1916. 

This postcard is postmarked in 1917.  

Please note the man in the front, sitting second, is wearing an Iron Cross 1st Class Medal. 

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Iron Cross Medal - If the cross uses a pin or screw posts on the back of the medal instead of a ribbon, and is worn on the left side of the uniform it is an Iron Cross 1st Class. You had to already have the 2nd Class medal in order to receive the 1st Class.

The medal was awarded to recognise acts of heroism, bravery and leadership.  In spite of its evident prestige it was a widely issued medal: almost six million were awarded during wartime, although by far the majority of these (5,500,000) were awarded to the lowest of three classes of the medal, the Iron Cross (Second Class).  Above this the Iron Cross (First Class) was issued to approximately 220,000 men.

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If anyone can translate any of the writing on these real photo, WWI postcards, please send me a message or leave a comment below.  Thank you!

The Lusitania

The Cunard Liner
Lusitania

Davidson Bros.' Real Photographic Series
London & New York.  (Printed in England)

This is postmarked in 1908 with a one cent stamp.
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The Cunard Liner
Lusitania

Davidson Bros.' Real Photographic Series
London & New York.  (Printed in England)

This postcard is unused and from 1908.
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R.M.S. "Lusitania."
Sunk by German Submarine off Old Head of Kinsale, 7th May 1915.

This one is postmarked on May 19, 1915 only 12 days after it sunk.

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RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907. It was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which is part of present day Portugal. During the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against Britain, the ship was identified and torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 on 7 May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes. The vessel went down eleven miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, leaving 761 survivors. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought.
                                    

Preston Premocar from Birmingham Alabama

National Post Card Week
May 4-10, 2014

The Premocar was manufactured in Birmingham, Alabama from 1918-1923.  It started production as the Preston, but ran into financial difficulties, reorganized as the Preston Motors Corporation and renamed the automobile the Premocar. Models including Touring Car, Roadster, Sedan Coupe, California Top, Preston Truck, and even a race car called the Premocar Magic Six.  A special model was built for President Harding's visit to Birmingham in 1921 for their bi-centennial celebration.  It was solid white, with white leather interior.  A complete history of the Premocar can be found in the book, Premocar Made in Birmingham.

This postcard is number 36 in a limited edition of 100. 

National Postcard Week 2013, Courier Nurse with Santa Fe Railroad

National Postcard Week
May 5-11, 2013

Elizabeth Widen
Courier-Nurse on The El Captain and The Chief trains with the Santa Few Railroad.

The Courier Nurse was equivalent of the early airline stewardess.  They were registered nurses, young, attractive and wore colorful uniforms.  The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad used them on the two most heavily traveled chair car trains, the El Capitan and the San Francisco Chief.  The role of the nurse was to help with passengers who became sick en route, elderly passengers needs and mothers with babies and small children.  With over 400 passengers on the El Cap during the peak periods, the Courier Nurse was kept busy.

Out of 4,000 candidates, a select few were chosen to be Courier Nurses.  On May 5, 1940, my mother Elizabeth (Betty) Widen (Shumway) made her first run on the Santa Fe Railroad between Chicago and Los Angeles.  She worked as a Courier Nurse for two years on the Scout, and economy train and the El Capitan.  Once she helped deliver a baby.  Her last trip was in September of 1942

card by Karin Gilbert

National Postcard Week Founders John H. McClintock and Dee Dee Parker

National Postcard Week 1997
In honor of the two co-founders
John H. McClintock and Dee Dee Parker

In 1983-1984, John McClintock and Dee Dee Parker combined their ideas to create and to promote the celebration for the First National Post Card Week.

It was held the first full week of May 1984.

This postcard was commissioned and produced by Stanley R. Hopkins. 

Rhode Island Red Rooster for National Postcard Week

Cockadoodle-Doo to you!!

This Rhode Island Red Rooster wishes you a Happy National Postcard Week 2014!

The Rhode Island Red is a breed of chicken raised for its meat and eggs.  Originally bred in Adamsville, Rhode Island, there is an elegant monument built to the birds erected there.  It became Rhode Island's state bird May 3, 1954.

Art by Kelly Glazner
Limited edition # 61 of 100

This postcard is unused. 

General Sherman, Sequoia National Park, California

General Sherman

Sequoia National Park, California

The General Sherman Tree is the largest living thing on this planet.  This giant sequoia tree is 275 feet high and is 36 feet across its base, it has a trunk volume of over 52,000 cubic feet. 

Photograph by Arnold and Carole Compolongo

This postcard is postmarked in 2014.

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Here is a vintage postcard of this tree...

General Sherman, 5000 years old,
235 Feet High, 62 Feet in Circumference

This is from a set of 10 postcards, the envelope reads:
A Selection of 10 Hand-Colored
Santa Cruz "Big Tree" Views
Big Trees, Santa Cruz, California

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In 1879, the General Sherman was named after the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman.
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William Tecumseh Sherman  (1820-1891)
Union Major General
Blunt, grizzled strategist distinguished himself at Shiloh and Vicksburg.  Captured Atlanta. Introduced total warfare in his March across GA and through the Carolinas.  Negotiated lenient peace. 

Movie The Avengers (2012)

Avengers

This unused postcard was bought in 2012.

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Marvel's The Avengers or simply The Avengers, is a 2012 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film is scripted and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes

Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Robert Downey, Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

In the film, Nick Fury, director of the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., recruits Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor to form a team that must stop Thor's adoptive brother Loki from subjugating Earth.

The Avengers premiered on April 11, 2012, at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre. The film set or tied numerous box office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America and the fastest film to gross $1 billion.