Private Mailing Cards

1898–1901

During the so-called “pioneer era” (1870–1898), private postcards cost two cents to mail, whereas government postal cards required only one cent postage. This changed when Congress passed a law that, among other provisions, reduced the rate of postage on private cards to one cent, in response to the small but growing public demand for lower rates. Now there was an economic incentive to fuel the increasing interest in mailing postcards.

The law had specific requirements for publishers: the words “Private Mailing Card” had to appear prominently on the back of every privately printed card, along with the line “Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898.” This new act legitimized private postcards, and more significantly, as a result of the decreased postage rate, led to a burgeoning increase in the number of postcard publishers and total numbers of cards printed.