Here are some fantastic Halloween postcards from the early 20th century. As picture postcards lived through their "golden era" between 1905-1915, our modern-day Halloween traditions began emerging.
Part of what popularized the type of halloween imagery that we know and love today (jack o'lanterns, skeletons, goblins, cats, ect.) is thanks to postcards like these. I love their handmade look and the obviously high amount of care and creativity that went into each design.
From The Public Domain Review:
"Halloween and picture postcards have a shared history, and both captured the anglophone imagination at the turn of the twentieth century. As the October 31st festival began to emerge in its modern guise thanks, in part, to an influx of immigrants from the British Isles in the United States, picture postcards entered their so-called "golden era", ca. 1905–1915. Rarely seen or used in the US before 1893, an estimated 900 million postcards had been mailed two decades later. And quite a few of these were Halloween themed. Historian Lisa Morton reckons that around 3,000 unique designs for spooky cards were created in the golden era alone, cards which helped popularize the celebration and standardize its imagery. "
