To the Editor:

Reading the interesting article on penny postcards in the Sept. 25 edition of The Altamont Enterprise [“Penny postcards record places of the past”] prompted me to write in case anyone has in their possession the following type of postcard from that era.

My grandmother and her sisters were born around the turn of the 20th Century — 1890, 1896, and 1902 — and grew up in the Finger Lakes region. My siblings and I have several postcards from and to them and their friends from the early 1920s.

The brief messages on the side with the address were of the usual “having a good time, wish you were here” variety, but the interesting thing is that they often refer to the sepia photograph on the reverse, which was plainly taken locally and whose subjects were known to the writer and recipient. My lively great-aunt Elnora appeared in several.

I speculate that the photos were taken by the writer, as they were snapshots, not formal poses. Perhaps the film was taken to a shop in Canandaigua to be developed and the good shots printed on postcards. The mail must have been better then, as some messages made it plain that the writer expected the card to be delivered the same day!

I hope your readers will find similar postcards in their attics and share some local stories with us.

Linda Delfs

Albany