Vintage cards of Peru

 

A Postcrosser in Germany offered to swap old cards from South American and sent a nice envelope (in exchange for modern lighthouse cards). He sent 2 showing Machu Pichu and 5 with Native people including images of women dancing and holding wool spinning tools. According to the text this man is wearing his Sunday clothes. Sadly none of them list tribal affiliation.

This card is different, less tourist oriented and identifies a Yagua woman from the Rio Ampayaco as preparing masato. This river is on the northeastern side of Peru and is associated with the Amazon, while the Yagua are a small tribe who have been impacted by Portuguese slavers, Catholic missionaries, and rubber producers. Masato is a fermented drink made from manioc and socially consumed.

Seminoles

To increase my collection of SE cards I purchased a few old linens featuring Seminoles of Florida. Linen postcards have an additional amount of cotton and were produced in the 1930s & 1940s. The Curteich card identifies Hiptenea Osceola and baby Conapatchee in the Florida Everglades near Miami may be from the early 1930s, while the canoe & village scene was postmarked from Miami in 1949.

Narragansett

My card collection grows occasionally; I recently made a small purchase of cards to fill in some gaps including tribes of the Northeast. This tourist card text states:

"The Narragansett were once the strongest tribe in southern New England. Princess Pretty Flower is the wife of war chief Roaring Bull"

Eleanor Spears Dove (1918-2018) and her husband owned a restaurant for 23 years that offered indigenous cuisine, participated in tribal activities, and are well remembered in their community. Her husband was the first Native American postmaster. More information about them can be found at the Tomaquag Museum in Rhode Island

Indian Farewell

A Postcrosser in New Jersey sent me a vintage card produced by Baxter Lane in Texas that she purchased from Ebay, a good source for old postcards! The image and text are a bit silly now but were likely well received in the 1950s and 1960s when tv shows about settlers crossing the American desert were popular:

"Until we meet again may the Great Spirit make sunrise in your heart, and may your moccasins make tracks in many snows yet to come"

Haida Poles

A Canadian Postcrosser sent me a card of Haida poles at Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. The short but informative test reads:
"Each house in this village was identified with crests which were displayed on mortuary poles and house fronts. Photographed by Richard Maynard in 1890"

This village is located on Graham Island in British Columbia. In the early 1800s they traded sea otter pelts. The area contains a number of carved poles as well as a heritage center that offers educational programs, museum, performance space and areas for wood carving.

Chief Odowa Littlecreek

A Postcrosser in Virginia sent me a vintage card from Oklahoma featuring a man from Minnesota! Old tourist cards often reused stock images and this card's text reads:
"To know the OKLAHOMA INDIAN of today is not only to feel pride in his or her individual accomplishments but also to accept this history as the rich heritage of the state of Oklahoma" The card was published by Storer's Cards, located at Memorial and 11th (old Rt 66) in Tulsa which opened in 1972.

The photo is of Benjamin Jacob Odowa Littlecreek, a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. He was born in Minnesota in 1897, worked at a 3M plant during WW2 and also worked at the Itaska State Park in Minnesota probably in the 1940s & 1950s. He died in 1964 in Fargo, ND. He is featured on many tourist cards. My collection includes a smaller version of this card, published in Minnesota with more accurate information.