Tram Tuesday - Schenectady, NY

Schenectady, New York had a streetcar system from 1886 until 1946. General Electric bought the streetcar company in 1896 and then set up a GE manufacturing plant in Schenectady. They then extended the streetcar loop to the GE plant to transport their 3,000+ employees to and from work.

There was also an electric interurban that brought people into Schenectady from the smaller towns of Gloversville, Johnstown, Amsterdam, and Scotia where they could then get on the New York Central train. Traveling glove salesmen from Gloversville used the trains to make their sales calls.

This view shows State Street and the Lorraine Block, demolished in the 1960s. The little building next to it may have been some kind of entertainment venue; there are two signs advertising Lew Dockstader, a Vaudeville entertainer. There's also a big sign for Stoll Famous Lager.

 The message on the front of the card, sent to Miss Lillian Wyckoff in 1907 reads:

I am having a dandy time. my address is 8 Romeyn Pl Schenectady N.Y. with this about the entertainment.

Your friend Nettie

Here's the back of the card.

Easy Sailing in Gelatt, PA

Once again we have cute Dutch stereotypes relaying greetings on an American card. These seem to have been particularly popular around 1910 in areas with strong Dutch heritage.
Gelatt, Pennsylvania is a 'populated place', not an official town.  I have a feeling it may have been more populated in 1915 when this card was sent. The postmark was from Gelatt, so we know they had a post office.

Mrs. B. Pickering sent this card to Miss Sarah Denney at Burns Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  I have other cards that Sarah Denney received at the hospital, but she appears to have recovered and lived to the age of 80. Sarah was born in 1895 and operated a grocery store in Union Dale, PA (current population 267). She died in 1975 and was buried in the Gelatt cemetery. It appears that she never married.

The message reads:

 from a Friend Mrs B Pickering

 glad your doing nicely.

It looks like Mrs. B Pickering, was Hattie Ball Pickering, first wife of Benjamin Butler Pickering. Hattie died in 1920 at the age of 48, whereupon Benjamin Butler married a woman by the name of Olive Warren. Benjamin and both of his wives are also buried in the Gelatt Cemetery. Here's a view of the cemetery from the road.


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Skandinaven's Book Department

John Anderson and his family made the journey from Voss, Norway to Chicago in 1844, when John was eight years old. His two brothers died on the trip, and his father died during a cholera epidemic in 1848. In order to make ends meet for his mother and infant sister, 12-year-old John sold apples and newspapers. His job as a newspaper boy led to additional newspaper jobs until finally he was working on layout for the Chicago Tribune.

In 1866, Anderson started publishing a Norwegian-language newspaper called the Skandinaven. It became America's leading Norwegian newspaper. Eventually, Anderson added a book store and a mail-order book department. Some of the longer works were published in installments. I wondered if that's what Hanna Jacobson of Astoria, Oregon had ordered. She received this card in 1904, acknowledging receipt of $13.50. I assumed that inst. stood for installment, but as the comments below reveal, it stands for instant, meaning this month.

Thirteen dollars was a lot of money in 1904.  I can hardly imagine what she must have been buying,  since Skandinaven's 1915-16 catalog offered books with gold lettering and engraved illustrations for a dollar a piece.

You can read lots more about John Anderson at the Norwegian-American Historical Association website in an article written by Jean Skogerboe Hansen.