5th Avenue and 49th Street, New York City

Here's the view circa 1910, when St. Patrick's Cathedral was the tallest building and it was surrounded by residential buildings. Plans for the cathedral started taking shape in the 1850s, but many considered the idea preposterous, because the site was so remote. The cathedral's doors opened in 1878. After that, the city grew around the cathedral.

And here's what it looks like today. St. Patrick's Cathedral is still there, it's just dwarfed by skyscrapers.


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Here's the back of the card--sadly with no message.

Czech New Year

The lovely Czech family on the front of this card sends you hearty New Year's greetings. I also wish you a very happy New year, but I don't read or speak Czech, so I'm afraid I can't offer a translation of the message on the back.  Any input from Czech speakers out there would be greatly appreciated.

Glückliches Neues Jahr

Here are some ornate German New Year's cards. These were the cards that the Schweigert family sent to Adolf Stoltz in 1911, 1912, and 1913.  They were sent from Markirchen, Germany, which appears to be the town that Adolf emigrated from.  He settled in Lawrence, Massachusetts with his family and the Lutz family sometime around the turn of the century.

Albert Schweigert must have been a very good friend of Adolf's, because I have a lot of postcards that he sent. Adolf appears to have tried to fit them in an album of limited size, so some of the cards have been trimmed. It's a shame, but they're still beautiful.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

I won't transcribe all three cards, since they don't relay any great news. The message on the one above reads:

Dear friend I wish you and your mother a happy New Year. Everything good, everything beautiful. Heartfelt greetings from Schweigert.