Hearst Newspapers Free Postcard Supplement

If you subscribed or bought a Hearst Sunday newspaper on December 27, 1903, you would have received this free postcard supplement. Then you could have cut them apart and mailed them off to friends and relatives telling them how much you loved the Christmas gifts they sent you.

They were printed on regular paper, not card stock, but the postal service was so gentle back then that I'm sure they arrived in good shape. I have more of these from 1903 and 1904, but Hearst made them as late as 1907. Here's the back side of the cards.

G.A. Heyne, Druggist - Syracuse, New York

Here's a trade card, probably from the 1880s, from Syracuse, New York. Why the druggist would use a chef with a lobster on his card is a mystery to me, but it's a captivating picture.

In 1894 the State Department of Health of New York issued a report on the quality of diluted sulfuric acid from various druggists. G.A. Heyne received a rating of fair.

Uppity Women

Here's a great old German postcard characterizing the women's movement. It shows all the male-dominated venues that women could potentially infiltrate, and what might happen to men as a result. They could end up wearing aprons and feeding babies like the guy shown above. The caption under him says "The Man of the Future."

Women, in the meantime, would be taking over the male habitat and drinking beer in the morning,  going to smoking clubs, and paying for kisses from the kissing booth. Worst of all, these women would refuse to bear children and would instead pick them up from Stork & Co. And notice that almost all of these women appear to be wearing trousers. What a hilarious concept!

This card was sent to Leonard Beeler in Schwyz, Switzerland in about 1909.  In that very year, regional chapters of the Swiss Association for Women's Right to Vote were asking for equal rights for women. It was a long wait in Switzerland, as women there didn't even gain the right to vote until 1971 - yes, 1971!

Luckily, we don't have any strange or humorous perceptions of gender roles or differences today.