Veteran's Day Postcard

The picture on this card was originally an advertisement for Gruen watches.  Gruen then made a postcard out of it, which served as both a patriotic message and an advertisement.

Gruss aus den Bergen

Greetings from the mountains near Interlaken, Switzerland. This card was written in 1896, but it was never sent.

Typhoid Fever in Altoona

Besse sent this card of the Altoona Hospital and Nurses' Home in 1908.

On the front she writes:

Sept. 6. 08

Hello Cousin Kathryn and Jim. We got home O.K. and had a nice time. Would enjoy some more ice cream.

On the back, she continues:

We are having a very bad epidemic of typhoid fever, about 8 cases died since we are home, there are more than a hundred cases now. We are all much alarmed.

The outbreak of typhoid fever she described was written up in the Pennsylvania Medical Journal in 1917. It turns out that a local dairyman was a carrier and the disease was being spread to people who drank milk from his dairy. The dairyman eventually gave up the dairy business and went into railroad work.