A 1913 New Year’s Postcard from Janesville, WI

There’s something quietly special about a simple postcard, especially one that’s survived more than a century of new years. This 1913 New Year’s greeting from Janesville, Wisconsin drops us right into that moment when one year was ending, another was beginning, and someone took the time to send a few hopeful words through the mail.

In this post, we’ll look at the card itself, the divided back format that made these little messages so practical, and the handwritten note that shows what people wished for each other in 1913. We’ll also follow it to its destination in South Dakota and think about what that address says about distance and staying close as the world was changing.

If you enjoy this kind of early 20th century correspondence, you’ll find plenty of similar pieces tucked into the vintage postcards section of Stereoview Vault, alongside other paper ephemera from the same era.

A New Year’s Greeting from Janesville, Wisconsin, 1913

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What does a new year look like on a single piece of card stock? In late 1912 or very early 1913, this postcard from Janesville, Wisconsin carried a simple New Year’s greeting into the mail stream. More than a century later, it still reads as a straightforward, no-frills holiday wish, rooted in a specific place and moment.

When you look at this early 20th century postcard now, you’re seeing a Janesville, Wisconsin card that was created at that turning point between one year and the next, meant to arrive close enough to New Year’s to feel current and hopeful.

For collectors who like following these little time capsules from town to town and year to year, there are other holiday and seasonal cards from the same general period over in the Stereoview Vault on eBay, mixed in with stereoviews and other ephemera.

Divided Back Postcards and Early 20th-Century Communication

Divided back postcards changed how a small card could be used. Popular from about 1907 to 1915, they made room for both an address and a personal note on the back. One side was reserved for the address, the other for a short message.

That simple change made postcard communication more practical and more personal, because you could send a quick note and still meet postal requirements on a single card. When you’re looking at postcard history from 1907–1915, that divided layout is a key detail, turning postcards from just a way to deliver an image and an address into an everyday way to stay in touch across distance.

If you like seeing how this played out across different formats, there are related pieces in the vintage print media and vintage photographs categories as well, all showing how people used paper to communicate in that same window of time.

The heart of this card is the message itself. The handwritten note, with its wishes for health and happiness, lines up with the social customs of the time. In 1913, that kind of New Year’s message wasn’t just a personal sentiment, it was part of how people marked the season and stayed connected.

When we look at vintage holiday greetings like this, we’re really seeing 1913 social customs on paper: New Year wishes centered on hoping for someone’s well-being and joy, and that comes through clearly in the postcard message we can still read today.

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Addressed to South Dakota: Longing for Connection

The address adds another layer. Sent to Mr. William Pantich in South Dakota, this card immediately feels like it’s stretching itself across miles. Even in that single line of address, you can sense the space between sender and recipient and the need to bridge it.

It’s a small, ordinary act of long-distance communication in 1913, but it hints at something bigger emotionally: the effort to stay in touch as people moved and spread out.

Closing

Put all of those pieces together, the Janesville postmark, the divided back, the New Year’s wishes, and that South Dakota address, and you get more than just a pretty card. You get a small, clear glimpse of how people used postcards to stay present in each other’s lives, even when they were far apart. If this kind of everyday history interests you, keep an eye out for more stories tucked into old paper like this one.