Manitoba

Very early real photo postcard posted at Winnipeg on December 14, 1904 and received on December 29 by the addressee, Mrs Ball, 4 Manor Street, Nottingham, England. There is no indication of the exact location but it is likely near to Winnipeg. The image is very clear and shows the machinery quite nicely. The card is on the usual early Canadian Velox back. 1904 is the year in which RPPC begin to appear in southern Manitoba. The earliest image that I can date on such a postcard in my collection is around the beginning of May 1904. This one would have been taken in September or October of that year. It's quite a good image for the 1904-06 period -- many of the cards from that era have condition problems, primarily fading and silvering.

Sender Stella [Elewaut] writes: "Winnipeg, December 14, 1905 My dear cousin, Here is a view card of Winnipeg that I'm sending to add to your collection. I await your news. Lots of kisses from your loving cousin, Stella. All the best to your family." It is difficult to identify where on Kennedy this is.

Card 12 in the De Nobele series is Brookside Cemetery. This one was mailed on March 26 (year missing but 1906 would be most likely) to Miss D. Worfolk, 5 Browning Road, Enfield, Middx., Englad, with the message: "Dear Do, I am sending you another with this one to make up for some you have not had." Perhaps "Do" was a collector.

This is quite an early card on a CANADA POST CARD undivided back that is a little unusual. It is one of those with multiple dotted lines provided to write the address on. In this case, "Lovie" was Miss Flo Morehen of 6 Oak Villas, Archway Road, Highgate, London. The card was posted by "Frank" on August 29, 1904 at Morden. The street shown there is Railway Street. Behind that you can see some buildings on Stephen Street, which is the main street today in this very attractive southern Manitoba town (now a "city").

Very nice photo of the Hamilton Hotel, "Dan. Hamilton, prop." in Neepawa, Manitoba. Note the livery vehicle at right and the little wheeled cart that two boys appear to be riding along the sidewalk. Despite the fact that it was one of the larger towns in Manitoba at the time, cards from Neepawa from this era are not especially common.

Mailed November 23, 1908 at Neepawa with the message "Well, I thought you would like a Postal Card from Neepawa, so I send you this. J. E. Hughes." This is addressed to Miss Ella Weedy, 11th Street, Brandon.

Government Agent card, unused. Makes 20 that I now have.

An early Warwick Bros. & Rutter undivided back card, no. 172, depicting the Brandon General Hospital. The addressee was Miss Stella Lawrence, 15 Laval Ave., Montreal (Miss Lawrence's postcard collection pops up quite a lot ... she must have had a lot of them). The writer of this card appears to realize that Stella is interested in receiving more: "Will try to send you some more cards before then." The card is postmarked at Brandon on October 1, 1905.

Unused card from Russell, Lang & Co.'s "Beautiful Manitoba" series. Undivided back.

Unused Winnipeg Photo Co. card, no. 126.

Bears a Winnipeg-Napinka R.P.O. cancel dated May 1, 1913. Addressed to Miss L. Mayes, 8 Essex Road, Manor Pk., London E.: "Dear Lily, I hope all are keeping well will write in a day or two I wrote to May last week. I have put a cross on the house where we live you cannot see it very plain, but hope to get one taken closer later on with much love to all from all. Your loving sister Edith." You can see the "X" halfway up the left margin of the photo, which is no. 30 in the La Rivière series.

Mailed at Pierson, September 10, 1908 to Miss M. Morrow of Everett, Ontario. It is written in a very ornate hand: "Received your Card on the 9th of Sept. and was glad to hear from you. I knew Mrs. Murphy would soon have to quit the powder. I believe I could of got steam enough to suing her only for the powder. Suing him around and around (ha ha) is the pigs foot still on the go. I hear from Mary Wedick every week. I wrote to Mr. McK. sister but I have not a answer as yet also wrote to Miss Mary Emma Mitchell but still no answer [?]. I will close my face till another time I remain your old stand by, from (Thos.) Box 53 Pierson. If you got photo to spare don't forget me."

Unused Winnipeg Photo Co. card showing a scene from Deloraine, Manitoba (although the location is not expressly stated, the number of the card is in the same range as other Deloraine cards and Deloraine has a "Railway Avenue" street plan. The image is almost identical to this other Deloraine image ... www.ipernity.com/doc/wintorbos/30772649//in/album/577729

De Nobele card no. 24, showing the Stockyards. This was postmarked on April 30, 1906 at Winnipeg and addressed to Miss L. M. Wetherell, 28 Overton Road, Brixton, London, S.W., England: "A busy time, working hard as usual. " This image also appears on the WINNIPEG postcard with two images, the other being a rendering of the Merchants Bank on Main Street. www.flickr.com/photos/wintorbos/4056461703/in/photolist-7bsqJT

Rare view of the expanded Market Building, which had been converted from market stalls into civic offices after space ran out at City Hall. As can be seen here, the market continued on the outside of the building. This card by the Post Card & Greeting Card Co. of Toronto is numbered 63-5 and was sent on July 11, 1936 to Miss Joan Reeve at Victoria Beach from her father.

Unused De Nobele card, no. 44, showing the stacking of hay at Myrtle, Manitoba. Again the typography -- specifically the placement of the parentheses and the use of a colon where we would use a period -- gives away the fact that these cards were manufactured in Belgium.

Unused W. G. MacFarlane card.

One of three cards "Issued by the Canadian Department of Emigration, 1, Regent Street, London S.W. 1". Unused. This is the school in Virden.