Vintage Memorial Day Postcards Honor the Fallen

It wouldn’t be a holiday, or a day of remembrance like Memorial Day, without vintage postcards. The postcards, which can be found for less than $20 on many sites, are collectible because the images and messages still resonate. The graphics are often beautiful, which adds to their collectibility. The idea for a Memorial Day is thought to have started in 1866, a year after the Civil War came to an end, in Waterloo, New York. Shops in that city closed for one day to honor soldiers killed during the Civil War. Other stories claim that Southern women put flowers on the graves of soldiers at a Richmond, Virginia, cemetery on May 30, 1866. Retired Major General Jonathan Logan planned another ceremony on May 30, 1868, which honored the dead with flowers and songs. The annual ceremony, which became known as Decoration Day, continued to be celebrated on May 30. In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day and it became a public holiday in parts of the country. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a federal holiday, to be celebrated the last Monday in May. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Memorial Day postcards were popular.