.
One imagines that it was hot in Oklahoma and Texas in August of 1908.
But, one Oklahoma girl was putting on some nice clothes and going to the "preaching" every night.
She mailed a lovely embossed card, featuring musical instruments, to her friend, Bertha Fleming.
Revival meeting?
Church conference?
Camp meeting?
The writer of the postcard does not explain what is occurring, but it seems to be the only game in town.
Postmark
Wynnewood, OKLA
August 3, 1908
.
Address
Miss Bertha Fleming
Wolfe City, Texas
(handwritten) McKinney
.
Message
Hello Bertha,
Are you having a good time?
We are not doing a thing but going to preaching.
I go every night.
Write soon.
M.Y. (?)
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Comments: 47
You have been remarkable at reading unusual handwriting.
Three Bertha Flemings!
I am going with number 2 entirely on age. Bertha #1 is 2 years old, Bertha #3 is six.
The card suggests a young woman who is writing to a peer - who can go to meetings and send postcards.
I think that Bertha, daughter of Newt and Mollie, is our girl.
As you note, the card does present an uneven surface.
Embossing leaves the back with an uneven thickness of the papaer, and the many and irregular depressions corresponding to the raised surfaces on the front.
Thanks for the added detail about the family of Newt and Mollie Fleming (and the prison), Kate.
Nice of Marilee to drop by and tell us that the area around mckinney is now tract housing.
Thanks for your vote of support, John M.
The oldest, below, died as a young man.
I did not realize that there were so many Berthas in 1900.
I suppose it was Bertha Von Freudenschaft, the famed writer and spiritualist whose "Seven Habits of Highly-Effective Table Tappers" topped the Colliers Weekly Best Seller list in 1888.
You know, I used to drive (ride) by that prison when I went to and from college from home. One thing I remember was that one of the head wardens used to raise exotic animals like emus and antelope. We never knew what we'd see when we rode by.
Miss M. seems to have a bored or resigned tone about having nothing to do but go to the preaching. All appropriate to being about 18 and having the usual concomitant friskiness.
Stephanie is right, although the most profound changes occurred around WWI.
German was no longer taught in public schools, the huge German -American newspapers began to spiral downward, and there was wholesale "anglicization" of Germanic names.
All the Kurts, Karls, Konrads became Curt, Carl, and Conrad.
In these postcard adventures, we already met one Katherine who became Catherine.
I'm glad that you stopped by, Ina. No one will argue with Dorine or Stephanie that Kate is the best.
It was a different world, Sheila.
If you have never done so, read the masterful book by Frederick Lewis Allen, "The Big Change".
Allen wrote in the post-WW II era, when sociologists still wrote exciting research-based books ("The Organization Man", "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit", etc).
Allen was born in 1890, and lived through what is still the most rapidly-changing period of American history, 1900-1920.
And, I am glad of it, Kate.
I grew up in an area of Pennsylvania strongly influenced by German culture, and I mourn the loss of this identity.
WWI was a significant factor in the change of German dialects as the common language of the Farmer's Markets and the auction houses.
I have been working on a story about the time my Grandfather took me to visit the Market, and solemnly greeted the stall-keepers with German phrases.
I meant no disrespect, Kate.
The common German form is Katharina.
I am sorry about the missed Batman, Rose.
There were periods of time when revivalist fervor was quite strong, and the Revival meetings would have plenty of drama.
This comment thread blended into several other vintage images posted on Gather.