When cleaning out my grandfather's house after his death, I found an awful lot of very old antique postcards, many of them unused. A great bunch of them looked to come from the early 1900s (1906-1918 were the postmarks on similar postcards, which would make them older than my grandfather). The majority were "photo postcards." I suppose I need to research this trend (or possibly just pick the brain of the very knowledgeable Chris at Wild Postcards), but it seems that individuals had their printed photos made right into postcards... kind of like we do now. Anyway, my mom and I were left wondering, who are these people? Are we related to them? Most likely we will never know, though one wonders why Grandpa held on to them if he didn't know them somehow.
This mysterious woman with her Mona Lisa face was my favorite in the bunch. I sent it to my mom later, of course, so we could keep it in the family. I like her hat, I like her dress, I like her pose, but most of all I like the quiet, inscrutable look on her face.
