Historical Note

Postal mailing cards were introduced in the United States in the 1870s, chiefly for advertisements and business notices. Pictorial souvenir cards issued in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition popularized view cards. The 1898 reduction in postcard postage, from two cents to a penny, triggered a flood of card production. Millions of cards were mailed and collected annually in the United States through World War I. As postcards became more popular, publishers began addressing new subjects, with holidays, patriotic sentiments, political campaigns, and social issues gaining popularity in the first decade of the twentieth century.

The Albertype Company, begun in 1889 in Brooklyn, New York, produced photographic views, postcards, and souvenir booklets for areas across the United States. The company's output eventually reached several million pictures per year. The Albertype Company ceased operation shortly after the death of Herman L. Wittemann, the son of one of the founding Wittemann brothers, in 1952.