By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
A “golden age of postcards” designation for the years 1905-1915 might seem, at first, to be a bit of innocuous historical trivia. But according to Carl Howell, those postcards “portray life as it really was for many Kentuckians during the first two decades of the 20th century.”
For years, while focusing much of my reading on Kentucky life, both of bygone days and the contemporary, Carl’s name, often came up. I usually saw it in an ad in a Kentucky-related magazine, and it was in regard to him purchasing old postcards.
I always wondered what the gentleman planned to do with his catch and surmised, too, that he might be an interesting person. I now have a good idea about both. Besides his obvious interest in old postcards, I learned that Carl, a lawyer, served as Hodgenville city judge and city attorney, along with being appointed master commissioner of LaRue Circuit Court. He retired from the practice of law in 2014. He is a noted Abraham Lincoln historian, and has held positions in organizations honoring the iconic president, who was born near Hodgenville. Being retired, Carl now has more time to spend on his study of history and, of course, collecting old postcards.
Howell authored the 200-page coffee table book, Kentucky in the Early 1900s: A Postcard Tribute, which was recently released by Butler Books (Louisville). It is a remarkable collection of attractively colored postcard images from the era, along with highly informative historical background material. Howell is, perhaps, the state’s greatest authority on the subject of the cards, which he sometimes refers to as “view cards.”
Besides the content of the individual cards, the LaRue County resident shares fascinating facts about the postcard phenomena. He points out, for example, that millions of the cards, with pictures taken by both professional and amateur photographers, were sent annually—with a large percentage reflecting the American patriotism of the times. We also learn that collecting postcards, termed “deltiology,” is, maybe surprisingly, the third-largest collectible hobby in the world.
The foreword is written by Byron Crawford, long-time Courier-Journal and more recently Kentucky Living columnist. In his words, Crawford states: “Unlike many who keep their collections private, Carl has generously shared his images with numerous institutions and publications. He has co-authored three Kentucky county history books which are illustrated with his postcards, and the University of Kentucky devoted a four-month-long exhibit to his extensive Lincoln collection.”
Perusing the pages of the book, one will find life images of small-town “court days,” fire department buildings, water mills, crowded event gatherings, coal mining related activities, and even execution death apparati (hanging scaffold and an electric chair). There are business ads and ball teams pictured, too.
One of my favorites in the book is a hand-colored postcard of the Columbus Star Mill, postmarked in 1913 at Columbus, in Hickman County, along the Mississippi River and near the western tip of Kentucky. Carl tells of two floods during the era. The mill survived one in 1913, but was washed away in 1927. Another postcard I really like is one telling of a series of religious services in Wilmore taking place Sept. 9-22, 1912. The preacher is Clarence Walker and the soloist is Miss Viola Walker. There is no mention of the two being related, but I suspect Miss Viola is his daughter.
All in all, Kentucky in the Early 1900s is a treasure of captured state history, well done work by a man who has been at his passion for a long time.
His postcard collection now numbers approximately 20,000, and much of his help in attaining it belongs to his friend Bill Morris, who died in 2006. The two traveled all over the United States in search for vintage cards, and Carl has dedicated this book to Morris. Carl is particularly proud of a couple types of cards he owns. “I have a whole album of Kentucky railroad depots, which are highly collectible,” he said, “and, one of early Kentucky court houses.”
When I asked him if he had cards from Butler, in Pendleton County, where my mother was raised, he quickly answered that he had about 25, including one showing a wooden bridge stretching across the Licking River, which is reported to have been the longest in the state. Many of the articles in his new book have appeared, since 2012, in The Kentucky Explorer, originating in Jackson, Kentucky. It is a periodical called “Kentucky’s unique history and genealogy magazine.”
As Carl collects, he often ends up having duplicate cards and enjoys trading them with a friend he mentors in the hobby. He likens the exchanges to trading baseball cards as a youth. “I still have my baseball cards,” he explained, while grinning. “Every one of my friends’ mothers threw collections away. My mother knew better than doing such a silly thing.”
Carl will be among approximately 200 authors (including yours truly) appearing in Frankfort at the Kentucky Book Fair on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The downtown location is the Frankfort Convention Center, and crowds of 3,000-4,000 are not unusual for the event. The venue provides wonderful opportunities to meet authors and get purchased books signed. Admission is free. For more information, click here or visit the Kentucky Book Fair page on Facebook.
I’m looking forward to having a “boo-tiful” time this Friday night, Oct. 23, riding a “Halloween Haunted Train” with a friend and her 5-year-old grandchild. The event will take place at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum in Versailles. The three of us had a great time last fall. The scary cast on the moving train cars are volunteers from the community, and the admission prices are reasonable. Go to BluegrassRailroad.com for more details, along with other special events BRM offers to the public.
Northern Kentucky native Steve Flairty is a teacher, public speaker and an author of six books: a biography of Kentucky Afield host Tim Farmer and five in the Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes series, including a kids’ version. His new book, “Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4,” has recently been released and is available for purchase here. Flairty is a senior correspondent for Kentucky Monthly, as well as a weekly KyForward and NKyTribune columnist and a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Read his past columns for excerpts from all his books. him at sflairty2001@yahoo.com or friend him on Facebook. (Steve’s photo by Connie McDonald)