Valentines

February 7, 1908, Menasha Record

This particular Valentines Day fell right in the middle of what was termed the "golden age of postcards."  The Universal Postal Congress decreed that government-issued postcards in the United States could contain messages on the address side beginning March 1, 1907. In line with these changes, the United States Congress passed an act which extended this to privately produced cards, thereby ushering in the "divided back" era of postcards, which lasted until World War I. On these cards, the back is divided into two sections: the left section is used for the message and the right for the address. Before that, the illustration had largely been marred by the sender's message, for there was no other place to write it.