Book review: New book chronicles the penny postcards of Hutchinson

Just in time for the fair, the McLeod County Museum has released a new book titled, “Hutchinson, Minnesota: History in the Mail,” by Julie M. Jensen.

Between the covers of this postcard-size book, Jensen has featured more than 100 postcards from the collection of the McLeod County Museum.

The postcards, once sold for a penny apiece, chronicle Hutchinson businesses, celebrations, churches, Crow River, landmarks lost, Library Square, people, schools and street scenes.

The cards were used to pen short notes. Such as this one found by this reporter on the back of a family postcard addressed to Cora Johnson and dated Nov. 9, 1909: “How do you like school? Do you behave like the good little girl ought too? Say, how do you like your seat by the stove? I guess it’s a hot one.”

In the book’s introduction, Jensen writes, “The golden age of postcards spanned about 20 years, from 1898 to 1918.”

To read the complete story, see the print edition of the Hutchinson Leader during the week of Aug. 11, 2008.

(Kay Johnson is a staff writer at the Hutchinson Leader. She can be reached at johnson@hutchinsonleader.com).