Editing Postcard (section)

=== Golden age of postcards (c. 1890 to 1915) ===
Cards showing images increased in number during the 1880s. Images of the newly built [[Eiffel Tower]] in 1889 and 1890 gave impetus to the postcard, leading to the so-called "golden age" of the picture postcard.<ref name=":1" /> This golden age began slightly earlier in Europe than the United States, likely due to a [[Panic of 1893|depression in the 1890s]].<ref name=":1" /> Still, the [[World's Columbian Exposition|Chicago World's Fair]] in 1893 excited many attendees with its line of "Official Souvenir" postals, which popularized the idea of picture postcards.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/qc16510ess.htm|title=Postcard Collection – Essay, Appendix C: New York State Library|last=Bassett|first=Fred|date=2018-12-13|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213031237/http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/qc16510ess.htm|archive-date=2018-12-13|access-date=2020-04-01}}</ref> The stage was now set for private postcard industry to boom, which it did once the United States government changed the postage rate for private cards from two cents to one in May 1898.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" />

Spanning from approximately 1905 to 1915 in the United States, the golden age of postcards stemmed from a combination of social, economic, and governmental factors.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /> Demand for postcards increased, government restrictions on production loosened, and technological advances (in photography, printing, and mass production) made the boom possible.<ref name=":0" /> In addition, the expansion of [[Rural Free Delivery]] allowed mail to be delivered to more American households than ever before.<ref name=":0" /> Billions of postcards were mailed during the golden age, including nearly a billion per year in United States from 1905 to 1915, and 7 billion worldwide in 1905.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":19">{{Cite journal|last=Baldwin|first=Brooke|date=1988|title=On the Verso: Postcard Messages as a Key to Popular Prejudices|journal=Journal of Popular Culture|volume=22|issue=3|pages=15–28|doi=10.1111/j.0022-3840.1988.2203_15.x}}</ref> Many postcards from this era were in fact never posted but directly acquired by collectors themselves.<ref name=":11" />[[File:Austrian Postcard 1901.jpg|thumb|Austrian postcard from 1901]]

Despite years of incredible success, economic and government forces would ultimately spell the end of the golden age. The peak came sometime between 1907 and 1910 for the United States.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> In 1909, American publishers successfully lobbied to place tariffs on high quality German imports with the [[Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act|Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act]].<ref name=":0" /> The effects of tariffs really started to make a large impact, and escalating hostilities in Europe made it difficult to import cards and ink into the United States.<ref name=":0" /> The fad may have also simply run its natural course.<ref name=":0" /> The war disrupted production efforts in Europe, although postcard production did not entirely stop.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=http://www.metropostcard.com/history1914-1945.html|title=MetroPostcard History of Postcards 1914–1945|last=Petrulis|first=Alan|website=www.metropostcard.com|access-date=2020-04-01|archive-date=2020-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203183215/http://www.metropostcard.com/history1914-1945.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Cards were still useful for propaganda, and for boosting troop morale.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":10" /><ref>Frank Jacob and Mark D. Van Ells, ''A Postcard View of Hell: One Doughboy's Souvenir Album of the First World War''. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2019.</ref>