Happy Birthday Postcards!

A batch of early twentieth century birthday postcards, for my sister's 23rd birthday!

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1910. Source

New York Public Library

"Congratulations on your birthday" just isn't something we say anymore... Unwritten. Source

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1907. Source

Birthdays by Postcard

Since we don't have a holiday for a while, let's dip into the New York Public Library holiday postcard collection with something for all seasons!

Also--this is a two-month overdue birthday post for my sister. Happy birthday!

Many of these are unwritten, or the message on the back is just another "happy birthday" or "many returns", which I haven't reproduced. If you follow the link to the NYPL site you can look at all the backs, too.

From the 1900s-1910s, with one exception. 

New York Public Library

Just signed "From Mother." Source

New York Public Library

Postmarked 1908. Source

New York Public Library

Source

Merry Christmas!

A selection of (not-previously-featured) Christmas photos! Wishing everyone a lovely day!

State Library and Archives Florida

Santa Claus in Florida, 1965. Source

The National Library of Wales

Boys with Christmas lanterns, Knighton, Wales, 1952. Source

Nationaal Archief

Kids regarding a Christmas tree, the Netherlands, no date. Source

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! 

Photographs of celebrations across the years!

 From various institutions, but especially the Library of Congress. 

A little boy dressed for the 4th, Leesburg, Florida, 1913. Source

A 4th of July parade in NYC, 1911. Source

A 4th of July parade in DeLand, Florida, 1884. Source

Dominion Day!

Views of Canada for its 145th birthday!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

For more cross-country tours, see Oh, Canada and Oh, Canadian Cities (and here's some fireworks!). 

These photos mostly from the Musee McCord Museum, with a few from the collections of the IWM and LIFE. 

The beautiful Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, 1946.  Source

Winston Churchill and his daughter at Niagara Falls., 1943. Source

Percé, Quebec, c. 1900. Source

VE Day

Today, in 1945, war in Europe came to an end. Photographs of the celebrations!

Civilians and soldiers celebrating in London. Source

Crowds celebrating in London. Source

French civilians run in the streets, Paris. Source

Happy Birthday!

The annual post to say happy birthday to my sister!

Happy birthday, Maddie! :)

A girl's 9th birthday party, Sydney, Australia, 1930s. Source

A children's birthday party in the 1930s, Sydney, Australia. Source

Source

An office birthday party, 1951. Source

Source

An 1889 birthday party, Brooklyn, New York. Source

The 75th birthday party of one Anna Archer, Denmark, undated. Source

A 1930s birthday party in Sydney. Source

A birthday party in Bergen, Norway, 1903. Source

Kids in costume for the 70th birthday of  Hermann Marcus, US, 1920. Source

A kid's birthday party in Virginia, 1953. Source

A birthday cake so big it needs four horses to pull it. That, or a float in a parade, Lethbridge, Alberta, 1956. Source

Tennessee Williams with a twentieth birthday cake-- for his play The Glass Menagerie, haha. 1965. Source

Samuel Rayburn blows out his birthday candles, Washington DC, 1949. Source

A little boy blows out his candles, surronded by friends-- fellow evacuees from London and Belgium, 1943. Source

Musician Harry James and his wife Betty Grable celebrate the first birthday of their daughter, California, 1945 [rotated and cropped from the original]. Source

Birthday party for actress Maree Austin, Melbourne, 1951. Source

A little girl and her birthday cake, Chicago, 1961. Source

Happy Passover!

I really should have posted this yesterday, in time for the first night of Passover, but in this blog I'm lucky if I remember any holidays/significant dates at all! Thanks to Passover for being a multi-day thing, haha. Another striking post shall follow sometime this week. 

Happy Passover!

As captioned, a U.S. army and navy passover in Dijion, 1919. Source

A family Seder in Duluth, Wisconsin, 1910. Source

A wartime Passover in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1943. Source

A young boy with elders at a Passover ceremony, 1951, US. Source

A Passover Seder in 1934, Germany [?]. Source

A serviceman enjoys the gefilte fish of the home he's been invited to for the holiday, Denver, 1952. Source

A family Seder in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1949. Source

A reading from the Passover Haggadah at a Passover meal for Jewish Allied servicemen in London, 1944.  Source

Raising glasses during a blessing at the same event. Source

A Passover Seder broadcast over the radio for men just returned from overseas combat, US,  1945. Source

Girls eat matzah against hay bales, undated. Source

A Passover Seder in Philadelphia, undated. Source

A Passover Seder for members of the Armed Services, Washington, DC, 1944. Source

A Passover Seder in Manila, the Philippines, 1925. Source

A Passover Seder at the Ahawah Children's Home, Berlin, undated. Source

A chaplain conducting a Passover service for soldiers, 1945. Source

A Passover Seder at a military base in Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1944. Source

Passover food packages for patients at a military hospital near Denver, Colorado, 1952. Source

Soldiers at a Passover meal, c. 1945. Source

A Passover Seder dinner for members of the American Expeditionary Forces, Paris, 1919. Source

A Seder at the YMHA, Baltimore, 1925. Source

A family Seder in Minneapolis, 1917. Source