Gila Cliff

2013 is off to a great start with a wonderful card of Gila Cliff dwellings sent by a Postcrosser (sushigirl) in New Mexico. This ancient site was built by early Puebloans around 1300AD in southwestern New Mexico.This site was likely occupied by families who gathered food in the nearby canyons and were part of the Puebloan migrations. The ruins were found by Americans in the late 1800s and have been a tourist destination since President Teddy Roosevelt created the National Monument that protects the area today. A very nice card to add to my collection!!

Christmas 2012

Friends kindly sent postcards inside their holiday greeting cards!

Eileen sends a vintage card of a Jicarilla Apache man known as James A. Garfield, printed by Detroit Photographic Co in 1899 and mailed to London in 1903. Garfield, also known as Velarde, lived as a farmer/rancher on the Jicarilla Reservation in New Mexico. A color tinted version of the Edward S. Curtis is a well known inmage. He wears a Presidential peace medal and an otter fur bandolier.

Laura (Stamp Raider) also sent two wonderful vintage cards!

This encampment at Lake of the Woods, Ontario Canada includes traditional bark covered wickiups, canvas tipis and a canvas wall tent. The card was printed in England but mailed from Canada to Belgium in 1920.

Carved wooden poles placed in Thunderbird Park, Victoria BC, Canada. This park began in 1940 when a vacant lot in Victoria was used by the provincial museum to display poles; in the 1960s they were moved indoors and restored. Visitors enjoyed seeing the work and so new poles were also carved in the shop. For more information read Looking at Totem Poles by Hilary Stewart (1993).