A Look at History
Postcard Views Document History on Mackinac Island, Part II
BY FRANK STRAUS

The "Golden Age of Postcards" from 1907 to 1917 immortalized what would become classic images of American local life and history. The period came just before the invention of the mass-produced motor car, and its consequent homogenization of the landscape. Many of the families that came to Mackinac Island at this time came by lake boat, and the boats themselves became favorite postcard subjects. None, not a single one, of the passenger boats that visited Mackinac have survived unaltered to the present, and postcards are our best way to see what they looked like.

The best-quality postcards can be used as historical records of the sights they depicted. The best printers transferred enough of the underlying photograph to their printing plate to create an accurate record of a scene's appearance and dimensions. Oncebeloved Mackinac Island sights such as the Fairy Arch, the new Mackinac Hotel, the old Grand Hotel golf links, the Mission House, and the wireless tower at Biddle's Point are depicted in quality cards that keep their subtle colors fresh to this day. Some of these sights, such as the Fairy Arch, have disappeared, and others, such as the golf links, have been relandscaped or otherwise altered. Postcards are often the best way of recalling what these altered or vanished sites used to look like.

This 1916 postcard shows the steamships Northland and Tionesta at dock in the Mackinac Island harbor. (Postcards courtesy of Tom Pfeiffelmann)

During the 10-year period of 1907-17, publishers must have printed several hundred different postcard images of Mackinac Island. The exact figure is not known; no definitive list has ever been compiled. Major Mackinac Island postcard producers named from this "Golden Age" include William H. Gardiner, who worked with the Detroit Publishing Company; Chicago's V.O. Hammon print shop and George Wickman, who published many postcards, both under his own name and under the name of his printer, Curt Teich. The Wickman family is remembered on Mackinac for their successful souvenir shop, operated for at least two generations. The Wickman family designed and produced not only individual postcards, but also accordionfolded postcard strips that gave visitors a comprehensive visual memory of Mackinac Island and the surrounding Straits area.

The legend on this undated, colored postcard reads, "Young's Cottages and Road to the Fort, Mackinac Island, Mich." The home is now the official summer residence of Michigan's governor. The automobile is thought to have been painted onto the photograph.

The Wickmans, the Doud family, Robert Benjamin, and many others continued to make and sell postcards through the middle of the 20th century. Long before this time, however, the "Golden Age of Postcards" had begun to fade.

Fine colored printers' inks, manufactured in Germany, had been a key component of the best-quality American postcards printed in the years immediately before World War I. When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, this supply was cut off. Travel to Mackinac dropped sharply for the duration of the war, and as the war ended in 1918, a deadly flu epidemic struck.

When peace came in 1919- 20, postcard fashions had begun to change. Earlier postcards had been printed from hand-colored plates, or treated lithographic stones, with the pale or pastel-colored German inks available for use with these processes. During the 1920s, the "Jazz Age," American postcard buyers began to look for brighter-colored postcards and strongerlined or more heavilyretouched illustrations and drawings.

At right: A 1963 Grand Hotel scene. The plush, red carpeted stairway leads to "the longest porch in the world," the card proclaims.

The fine, photographicbased detail of earlier postcards disappeared and was replaced by illustrations that could be reproduced with bright, saturated colors. Evolving postcard taste and technology moved toward the "linen prints" of the World War II era, brightly colored sketches printed on cloth-like, thick paper cards. These illustrations are often faithful to a photograph used as a model for the drawing, and are interesting and collectible in their own right.

A look at the Mackinac Island pages of a popular online auction service shows many postcards of the Island for sale, including many cards from 1907-17. The photographers and printshops mentioned in this article are only a sample of the many dedicated craftsmen who developed this Island resource.

At right: This postcard, dated 1921, shows the "New Mackinac and New Murray Hotels."

A beautiful overview of Mackinac Island postcards over the years can be seen in Steve Brisson's book, "Wish You Were Here," published in 2002 by Mackinac State Historic Parks. Mr. Brisson used the postcard collection of the State Park to create this book, which is for sale in Mackinac Island state and private book shops.

This black and white postcard, mailed in 1914 for one penny, depicts Ste. Anne's Church.