GREETINGS FROM MARMORA -TOO BUSY TO WRITE
/Or Just too Lazy?
We have written quite a lot over the years about postcards and their importance to the historical record. We have mentioned the famous Roy Studio and Parks studio of Peterborough which supplied thousands of local images for postcard hobbyists, and, of course, we can’t omit the famous Peterborough aerial photographer, Harry Oakman, whose aerial shots can be seen in postcards across the country.
Today we came into possession of another type of postcard, printed for the lazy postcard writers of the Marmora area – a “pick and choose” greeting that saves the busy vacationer valuable time that is better spent swimming, boating, fishing or playing golf. It was printed by Dexter Color Canada Ltd. in Cornwall, Ontario, and what we found out after a little research, is that the company was one of the two biggest publishers of “Chrome” postcards. (The other was Alex Wilson Publishers Ltd. of Dryden)
In 1935 the Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York altered the world of colour photography forever with the development and mass marketing of Kodachrome, the first successful color film used for both cinematography and still photography. And so was born the “Chrome” postcard.
According to Diane Allmen, a.k.a. Queen of Chrome, who purchased the Dexter Press Archives in 1980’s, it was 1960 when Dexter turned to high gloss postcards, as is this postcard. But what is really fascinating is that Dexter numbered all their cards, and with Diane Allmen’s cataloguing, we can safely say that our postcard, #54500B, was printed in 1962.
For more on Dexter Press postcard go to Dating Dexter Press Postcards | Postcard History
