![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
Picture postcards became immensely popular in the first decade of the twentieth century, in Ireland as elsewhere, and billions of them passed through post offices worldwide. Their imagery was largely dictated by market forces, and they penetrated all sectors of society, communicating values and concepts even to those who were unwilling or unable to engage with other media such as books and periodicals. During this period the concept of Irish identity was very fluid, and several nationalist groups had emerged whose aim was to develop a distinct Irish culture worthy of the respect of both Irish and non-Irish people. Picture postcards became seen as a means towards achieving this aim, but also of seriously undermining it. This paper examines reports from Irish newspapers from 1900 to 1910 on the postcard phenomenon, and the social anxieties and fears they reveal.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 O’Brien, The Fourth Estate; Condon, Early Irish Cinema
2 Ferguson, “A Murmur of Small Voices,” 169.
3 Staff, The Picture Postcard & its Origins, 46.
4 Ibid, 50–54.
5 Ibid, 62.
6 Carline, Pictures in the Post, 54.
7 Ibid, 9.
8 Rogan, “An Entangled Object,” 31.
9 Cork Examiner, September 19, 1905; “Portraits on Postcards,” The Derry People, September 12, 1908.
10 “They Say That,” Kerry Evening Star, March 10, 1910.
11 Wang, Tucker and Haines, “Phatic technologies in modern society,” 84–85.
12 Freemans Journal, October 28, 1904.
13 “New Postcards,” Cork Examiner, October 19, 1905.
14 Wilson, “Constructions of Irishness,” 92–117.
15 Cork Examiner, August 18 1904.
16 Cork Examiner, August 11 1905.
17 Irish Independent, August 9, 1906; “A change of Taste”, Irish Independent, May 10 1907.
18 “Killaloe Notes,” Nenagh Guardian, August 31, 1907.
19 “Picture Post Cards,” Derry People, December 3, 1904.
20 Anglo-Celt, December 17, 1904.
21 “By the Way,” Freemans Journal, December 19, 1905.
22 Connaught Telegraph, December 31, 1904.
23 “The Irish Trade Mark. More Misleading Titles,” Cork Examiner, February 14, 1908.
24 Freemans Journal, July 20, 1908.
25 “Picture Postcards,” Cork Examiner, July 14, 1900; “Raphael Tuck’s Postcards,” Freemans Journal, September 3, 1904.
26 Cork Examiner, June 15, 1906; “Messrs. Raphael Tuck & Sons,” Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal, November 19, 1904.
27 KIllarney Echo, June 1, 1907.
28 “London and North-Western Railway Picture Postcards,” Freemans Journal, December 22, 1906.
29 “View Post Cards,” Kerry Weekly Reporter, June 30, 1906.
30 Kelly, “Beauty and the Market,” 99–116.
31 “Reform in Paris,” Evening Herald, November 2, 1904.
32 Driessens, “The Celebritization of Society and Culture”, 2013.
33 Kerry Sentinel, January 6, 1892, 2; Kerry News, September 20, 1907, 3; Leitrim Observer, April 13, 1912, 6.
34 Evening Herald, July 23, 1904.
35 “Picture Postcards,” Ulster Herald, October 3, 1903.
36 “Picture Postcards,” Fermanagh Herald, October 3, 1903.
37 Hyde, “The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland,” http://www.thefuture.ie. Accessed April 19, 2014.
38 “The Gaelic League,” Irish Examiner, August 31, 1898; “Irish Language Week,” Freemans Journal March 6, 1906.
39 De Nie, The Eternal Paddy, 136.
40 Ibid, 175.
41 Curtis, Apes and Angels
42 De Nie, The Eternal Paddy, 414.
43 “The Gaelic League,” Evening Herald, October 17, 1903.
44 “‘Clear Air” notes,” Kerryman, September 2, 1905.
45 “Sinn Fein notes. Killarney,” Kerryman, October 13, 1906.
46 “Insulting Postcards,” Irish Independent, April 9, 1908.
47 “A.O.H. and Postcard Caricatures,” Anglo-Celt, April 6, 1907.
48 “‘Irish” Postcards,” Limerick Leader, April 24, 1907.
49 Ibid.
50 Cork Examiner, April 7, 1909.
51 Connacht Tribune, July 31, 1909.
52 “Sinn Fein notes. Killarney,” Kerryman, October 13, 1906.
53 “Notes and Comments,” Irish Examiner, April 2, 1906.
54 Cork Examiner, December 12, 1906.
55 Fermanagh Herald, December 1904.
56 Cork Examiner, December 12, 1906.
57 “Indecent Postcards,” Cork Examiner, June 20, 1908.
58 “More Indecent Postcards,” Freemans Journal, April 16, 1908. There was a lack of legal clarity throughout Britain as well as Ireland in relation to terms such as ‘obscenity’ and ‘indecency’ in the early twentieth century, as shown in Cox, Stevenson, Harris and Rowbotham, Public Indecency in England 1857–1960, Chapter 3, 44–64.
59 “Gaelic League in Drogheda,” Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal, October 10, 1903.
60 “Indecent Pictures. Mr Drury’s Strong Comments,” Freemans Journal, January 25, 1906.
61 “Clean Windows,” Irish Independent, January 25, 1906.
62 “Latton Notes,” Anglo-Celt, June 16, 1906.
63 Cork Examiner, December 12, 1906.
64 “Indecent Postcards in Queenstown,” Cork Examiner, June 19, 1908.
65 “A Hosting of the Gael,” Donegal News, August 3, 1907.
66 “Indecent Postcards,” Freemans Journal, October 13, 1909.
67 Paul, The Catholic Vigilance Association, its Aims and Results, 54.
68 quoted in O’Brien, The Fourth Estate, 9.
69 Paul, The Catholic Vigilance Association, its Aims and Results, 57–8.
70 Yeats, Autobiographies, 199.