Postcards of Terre Haute - Leather Postcards

Leather postcards were very popular from around 1900 to 1909 when the postal service banned them. They were apparently too difficult to process using the sorting machines then in use. The postcards were generally made from deerskin and were decorated with the tip of a hot implement. The process was called pyrography and was a popular art form for middle class young women. As well as leather, the process was also used on wood and some wooden postcards have also survived.

One popular way to use the leather postcards was to collect them and sew them together to make a pillow. In fact, some leather postcards were produced with holes pre-punched along their edges for this purpose.

Greetings from Terre Haute

This leather used postcard, stamped in Oakwood, Illinois but with an unreadable date, has the following printed text...

Terre Haute, Ind.
All rights reserved
P. Harris, Buffalo

It's the little things
in life that count.

Greetings from Terre Haute

This leather used postcard, stamped on May 17th, 1907, has the following printed text...

I am very much attached to my work
Terre Haute, Ind.

Greetings from Terre Haute

This unused leather postcard has the text...

Just Landed in
Terre Haute, Ind.

Greetings from Terre Haute

This leather postcard, with an unreadable postmark, has the text...

Greetings from Terre Haute

How Does It Strike You? Terre Haute, Ind.

This leather postcard, posted in Terre Haute but with an unreadable postmark, has the text...

All rights Reserved
P. Harris, Buffalo

Mary with her Little Bear Behind

This leather postcard, posted in Terre Haute but with an unreadable postmark, has no other printed text.

There are some striking girls in Terre Haute, Ind.

This leather postcard, posted in Terre Haute on October 5th, 1907, has no other printed text.

This page created 20th June 2009, last modified 23rd September 2009