Exhibit: Sentiment, Separation & Grief Postcards
Domesticity; Fathers and Children; Fidelity; Home and Family; Patriot Series; Pressure to Enlist; Songs/Hymns; Tender Thoughts; Twilight Series; Victorian and Edwardian Reserve; and War Duration
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Domesticity: Home-Fires Burning (1)
The sanctity of the home and widely accepted notions of respectable domesticity were emphasized.
Intimate portrait of a soldier and a woman
Image 5701
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Fathers and Children: Love to Dad This Christmas (1)
Portrait of a mother and child with a Christmas-themed inscription
Image 5753
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Fathers and Children: Sketch of Tommy's Life (1)
Portrait of a British soldier "Out on rest"
Image 4461
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Fathers and Children: Sketch of Tommy's Life (2)
Back of postcard; personal letter to Ontario, Canada
“Hello Queenie how are you getting along what did you do when you had your holidays how is your garden getting on. Tell Mum I am quite well & hope you are a good little girl to her and do what you can. Well ta tat little one with love from Dad xxxxxxx”
Image 4462
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Fathers and Children: Thinking of Dad (1)
Portrait of a boy thinking about his soldier father
Image 5755
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Fidelity: The Day of Glad Returning (2)
“Dear Betty. I shall be glad when the last line on this card happens the other cards also express my feelings with Love & Kisses I remain Your Loving Husband XXXXXXXXXX Jim”
Image 5718
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Home and Family: All My Thoughts, All My Longing (1)
Note the striking similarities that exist among the British, French, and German cards carrying these themes
Intimate portrait of a soldier and a woman
Image 6352
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Home and Family: All My Thoughts, All My Longing (2)
Back of postcard; personal letter in German
Image 6353
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Home and Family: Thinking of Home (1)
Portrait of a soldier writing and thinking of his family
Image 5723
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Patriot Series: A Letter from Dad (1)
This series, oddly enough known as the “Patriot Series” , shows that Bamworths was reacting to the actual realities of war, including feelings of separation and loneliness, and the grief associated with loss. As the card in the lower right hand corner indicates, the series also demonstrates fears that the war would ultimately be meaningless.
Portrait of a child reading a letter from her father
Image 5711
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Patriot Series: Sacrifice in Vain (1)
Portrait of a woman praying for her soldiers safety
Image 5713
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Patriot Series: Why Doesn't Daddy Come Home? (1)
Portrait of a child asking her mother why her father doesn't come home
Image 5715
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Pressure to Enlist: A Call to Arms (1)
In the autumn of 1914, enlistment efforts went beyond subtle calls to perform one’s patriotic duty. Clergymen frequently used their pulpits to urge young men to join up. Young women would carry white feathers, and pin them to the lapels of men who were not in uniform. Others refused to go on dates with men who had not enlisted.
Intimate portrait of a soldier and a woman
"For a little while we must be parted, Duty calls me, dear,--I must obey, But I know you won't forget me will you? I shall think of You though far away"
Image 5719
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Pressure to Enlist: A Call to Arms (2)
Back of postcard; personal letter
"Mama, from Papa xx"
Image 5720
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Pressure to Enlist: The Brave; The Fair (1)
Intimate portrait of a soldier and a woman
"None but the brave deserve the fair"
Image 5721
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Pressure to Enlist: The Brave; The Fair (2)
Back of postcard; personal letter to Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Image 5722
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Songs/Hymns: Dreaming of Home (1)
The use of well known lyrics from popular songs and hymns was common prior to the war. As the following images demonstrate, the emotions associated with a long and costly conflict continued to be expressed in both words and pictures on postcards.
Portrait of a soldier thinking of home
Image 5791
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Songs/Hymns: Long, Long Trail (1)
This 1915 song was very popular among English-speaking soldiers on the Western Front, and was especially beloved by Americans, who began arriving following the United States’ declaration of war in 1917.
Portrait of a soldier thinking of home
Image 5807
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Songs/Hymns: Long, Long Trail (2)
“To Gladys With Best of Love From Your Soldier Sweet Heart Albert(.) Dear I am all ways thinking about you though you don’t know what I am doing because I am all over the place night and day but I can just think where you are and what you are doing.”
Image 5808
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Songs/Hymns: Long, Long Trail (4)
“To Gladys From Your Sweet Heart Albert xxxxx I have not forgotten the long trail up Dovercourt Rd and along Davenport Rd. [Toronto] It will be a fine walk when I get back with you.”
Image 5810
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Songs/Hymns: Long, Long Trail (6)
“To Gladys From Your Soldier Sweet Heart Albert xxxxxxx With Best of love.”
Image 5812
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Songs/Hymns: Titanic, Bamworth Company Cards
When the RMS Titantic sank in April 1912, the Bamworth Publishing Company of Leeds produced a commemorative card. It was from this rendering that the myth developed and spread suggesting that Titanic’s band had been playing the hymn ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ as the ship sank.
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Tender Thoughts: I Can't Forget You (2)
“Dear Dick This card just suits me, its frpm my heart, its how I feel, and I hope my prayers will soon come to pass and be answered. Have not heard from you today.”
Image 5746
