By Mike Smith
If one were to use the term “picture postcard” today it would sound redundant as it is understood that postcards normally have an image of some kind. This wasn’t the case from the get-go however. The first official “Canada Post Card,” issued by the Post Office in 1871, had an imprinted stamp and some ornamental framing but no other images (see Figure 1). It wasn’t until the Post Office relinquished its monopoly on postcard production and sales in 1895 that competition in the private sector eventually gave us the picture postcard that was so popular during the hobby’s golden age (1900–1914).
The earliest images on private postcards were usually engraved illustrations. In fact, Canada’s earliest-known (May 1895) picture postcard has a multiview illustration of Barrie, Ontario made by Grip Co. Engravers, Toronto. As the years rolled on, postcard publishers and printers engaged with more and more artists, resulting in an ever-increasing supply of better and better looking cards. In a 1900 ad, iconic lithographer and postcard printer Toronto Lithographing Co. even boasted, “In our designing studios, we employ exclusively the well-known artists J. D. Kelly, A. H. Hider, M. A. Wilcox, E. P. Kelly and Harry Jewell, which is sufficient guarantee of originality and quality of our designs and drawings.” That boast of originality and quality was certainly true in the case of A. H. Hider. Two of his terrific South African War (1899–1902) watercolours were turned into highly collectible (and pricey!) Toronto Lithographing Co. postcards (see Figure 2).
Although artists played a huge role in the development of the picture postcard, the role of photographers was paramount. The main reason is that the vast majority of the picture postcards mailed and collected during the golden age were what collectors today call “regular view cards” or simply “views.” And for obvious reasons, photographs were the main source of these views. Unfortunately, although the artwork used to create picture postcards is often easily linked to a particular artist or illustrator, the same can’t be said for photographs. Of the millions of view cards in circulation in Canada during the golden age and beyond, only a tiny minority ever mention the photographer who actually provided the view. Take the work of renowned Goderich photographer Reuben Sallows for example. He sold his wonderful photos of Canadian farm life to numerous publishers in Canada, the USA and Britain, who turned them into thousands of different postcards (see Figure 3). And he’s not mentioned on any one of them!
The exception to this unfortunate lack of attribution are real photo postcards (RPPCs), which photographers produced themselves by developing photos directly onto postcard paper. RPPCs, which understandably are much scarcer than the oodles of printed postcards made from the same photos, often mention the photographer or the studio where they were made. In Reuben R. Sallows case, he made about 200 different RPPCs that can be directly linked to his studio. This, however, pales in comparison to the number of regular view cards made from his photos without any mention of him at all.
Ironically, there is one known view card of Woodstock with “Sallows” printed beside the caption. However, the photographer here was Darius Sallows, Reuben Sallows’ hapless son. Darius Sallows took photos in Woodstock for only about a year before heading to the USA, where he tried to make a living as an itinerant photographer. He soon got into trouble with drugs and ended up in a Pennsylvania prison for a while.
Another photographer that was given short shrift, so to speak, was Orillia’s Frank Stewart. According to Orillia historian Marcel Rousseau, Frank Stewart “would have supplied photos to the local businesses that published and sold postcards, especially the R. O. Smith Bookstore, which published hundreds of local views in the early 1900s.” And like Reuben Sallows, Frank Stewart’s name was never mentioned on any of the view cards made from his photos. Amazingly, even when he was actually in one of the R. O. Smith cards created in his own studio, Stewart’s not mentioned (see Figure 4).
Finally, don’t forget to attend the Toronto Postcard Club’s annual show on Sunday, 22 February 2026 at its usual venue, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. It’s Canada’s largest postcard show and shouldn’t be missed. Hope to see you there!