Real photo postcards of natural disasters

This is correct.
I appologise for terminology. The title should read Postcards based on real photos of natural disasters.

 

The last one in the first post is from the 1913 Dayton, Ohio flood. This according to a list of postcards from that flood. The list was posted by Wright State University, and came up as a pdf download when I searched with my phone. So I can't link it here.

 

Postcards showing disasters were very common in the early part of the 20th century since postcards were a way to spread images of the events one witnessed or was in close proximity to around the country before the rise of television. As the saying says, a picture is worth a thousand words and postcards were the easiest, most inexpensive medium at hand since they were mass produced in great quantities.

Personally I've seen many postcards depicting disasters such as structure fires, gas explosions, floods, tornadoes, train derailments, and ships sinking or getting trapped in the ice. During large events like the Dayton Floods some postcard manufacturers sent teams of photographers to the area to survey the damage and sometimes you can find sets of these cards intact.

I have a few disaster postcards somewhere, I'll post them when I find them.

 

Hi Joe2007!
I look forward to that

 

The long low building on the right in the "Second and Dale" postcard bears a sign reading "(something) Casting Co." Doubtful that's of any help even if the name preceding "Casting Co." can be deciphered, but there ya go...

 

https://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/collectionguides/files/sc221.pdf

 

Thanks for the link Bronwen!

 

Thank you! I could not get a URL to come up. The search results I got gave me a direct link to download the pdf. I am better doing some things on the computer than on the phone.

 

Here are some postcards of natural disasters from Mill Valley, California:
http://www.millvalleylibrary.net/historyroom/collections/collections/show/9

 

1 cents post cards postage was from 1898-1958

 

Yes it is the 1913 flood. DPL(Dayton Power and Light) first started in 1911...the electric poles are accurate for the time. Flood was in march, 1913

 

*** Was briefly raised to two cents from 1917-1919 & 1925-1928 and then reverted back to 1 cent until 1951.

 

The Flood of 1913 impacted cities & towns up and down the hard hit Ohio River Valley and caused considerable flooding, death, and destruction. There are numerous postcards out there documenting the damage. Have seen postcards as far north as Findlay, Ohio showing flood damage but Dayton and surrounding areas were particularly hard hit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1913



Unfortunately my cards are not real photos.