Harmon’s Histories: Montana Historical Society gives new life to old postcards, online

By Jim Harmon

I notice the Montana Historical Society has put together a new photo-mechanical postcard collection of Montana places. It’s terrific!

The term photo-mechanical is, in a way, self-explanatory.

But here’s a definition from Rachel Mustalish, the Morse Fellow for Advanced Training in Paper Conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston:

“In the period of 1865 to 1900 ... a succession of rapid technological changes occurred. Mechanized mass production significantly decreased the cost of many consumer items. In this period lithography, photography and the subsequent photo-mechanical processes evolved. These were manipulated, improved and used to create myriad techniques that were used in fine art, art reproduction, book illustration and other visual materials.”

The first digital collection made available online “includes over 20,000 photo-mechanically printed postcards organized by place documenting the natural landmarks and built environments of Montana’s cities, towns, rural areas and natural landscapes predominantly from 1905 to the 1960s.”

The Montana Historical Society calls it a mammoth undertaking, “Due to the large size of the collection, we intend to only accomplish digitization of about 15% of the collection, or more than 3,000 postcards, by December 2025. Some of the postcards digitized here include hand-written messages on cards that were sent through the mail; many of the cards were never used for messages.”

As a youngster in Montana in the 1950s, I enjoyed collecting these penny postcards whenever the family would travel the state.

My favorites were of small towns, local motels, and ghost towns and landmarks. I wish I’d kept them but, at the time, I was too young to understand their potential historical value.

The Historical Society recognizes that value and has put together quite a collection, providing “extensive visual documentation of Montana’s cities and towns, including but not limited to the following: Anaconda, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Deer Lodge, Dillon, Fort Benton, Glendive, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Lewistown, Livingston, Miles City, Missoula, and Virginia City.”

“Postcards from these places show many prominent commercial and public buildings, including business blocks, schools, courthouses, churches, commercial and residential street scenes, and overviews of cities and towns.

Thanks Montana Historical Society for conserving this fascinating era of Montana postcards, and making many of them available for online access!

For access to the many thousands of other postcards not placed online from this digital collection, you may contact the Montana Historical Society Library and Archives.