Through the years, I've enjoyed looking at a collection of vintage postcards from the early 1900s that was given to me by my parents.
The embossed and colorful cards were produced in Germany when it was the world's leader in lithographic processes. It was the Golden Age of postcards. This changed during World War I when lesser-quality postcards started being produced in England and the US. It was also during this time that the telephone began replacing the postcard as a fast and reliable means to keep in touch.
To me, they are far more than just a collection of old postcards because they tell a story about a young boy from a poor family who suffered a serious injury from a fall. He was unable to walk for a number of years. At the age of ten, he was referred to Dr. Gillette at the City Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota for care. He needed to be hospitalized and lived apart from his family for approximately three years. The young boy was my Uncle Bert—my father's older brother.
The postcards were written between 1908 and 1912. Most of them were written to Bert by his three older siblings or by Bert to his mother. They were postmarked, written in pencil, and each one had a one-penny US postage stamp on it.
They often refer to his mother coming to visit on Sundays. I expect that she traveled by streetcar to see him. The distance from the family home in north Minneapolis to the City Hospital in St. Paul was about twenty miles—a long trip in those days.
Here is one of the messages written by Bert that was addressed to his mother and mailed on November 11,1911:
“My Dear Mother
I am feeling fine and hope you are all the same. Say mama will you make
me a pocket in my old pants for my watch. Today is Thursday but the doctor
isn't here yet. Well good bye from your loving son.
Bert ”
* * *
The City Hospital, established in 1907, eventually became known as Gillette Children's Hospital. It was the first in the nation to provide free medical care to disabled children due to the work of Dr. Arthur Gillette. Today, Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare remains one of only a handful of nonprofit hospitals nationally that offer long-term care and rehabilitation services for children with rare disorders and injuries.
