The mass‐produced postcard and the photography of emotions

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Abstract
During its heyday, roughly 1890–1940, the mass‐produced European picture‐postcard brought a tremendous variety of scenes, real and fabricated, within the reach of an avid buying public. While many people early in the present century did put together albums of postcards—commonly unused ones—others were able to use these for brief formalized messages to friends and family once the post office had decided to transmit such things. Amateurs and local commercial photographers alike could also make up their own picture‐postcards, to memorialize local scenes or even fleeting emotional states. Yet in the main postcard production was a large industry and a genuine mass medium. At the beginning of the century Germany alone was producing about 9 million cards a month. Examples from several countries are presented here.

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