Petercsák Tivadar: A képes levelezőlap története (Miskolc, 1994)

HISTORY OF PICTURE POSTCARDS

Magyar Központi Híradó Rt (Hungarian Central News Agency Ltd.) and the political parties published their cards. The Ministry of Reconstruction published a series propagating the removel of ruins and reconstruction. After nationalization in 1948 the publication of picture postcards became the task of the Művészeti Alkotások (Artistic Works) as well as department 5 of the Arts Foundation. From this the Publishing Company of the Arts Foundation was formed in 1954, which published most of the most picture postcards in Hungary. In 1982, 87 million postcards were published. The Cartographical Company publishes map-cards and the museums publish artistic postcards of their artistic works. The reproductions of old greeting and panoramic cards are spreading again. Past and present on the picture cards City sights and landscapes City sights and landscapes were made in the greatest number. Originally the blackand-white and coloured lithographs were printed in the left upper corner of the postcard, but at the turn of the century there were often 6-8 pictures of the city. The pictures were framed with geometric or flower ornament. The pictures of the towns were often framed by the typical products of the area. The peculiarity of the picture was enhanced by photomontage. From the beginning of our century the black-and-wihite cards were in the majority. On the "mosaic" cards several sites of a city are shown. The changing of a settlement may be traced well in the picture postcards published over the last century. Some buildings or streets are often preserved only in picture postcards, consequently they belong to the history of the city. The picture postcards of Budapest show mainly the administrative, cultural buildings, ancient monuments, commercial and catering institutes and the busy streets of the city centre. The historical monuments were photographed in every town. On the postcards of administrative centres and cities the city and county halls, courts, financial institutes, churches and schools are often shown. The postcards showing restaurants, shops were for advertizing purposes. A reoccurring subject of the local cards were the railway station, the barracks and the post office. After World War I war memorials and national flags were shown. After 1945 the new character of the settlements was shown be new building estates, parks, cultural and social institutions. The picture cards of the villages showed mainly the local sights, public buildings and the people on the streets. Cards showing factories, industrial establishments and mines are known from the beginning of the 1880's. Traffic Changes in the local traffic over the last one hundred years may be well traced in the picture postcards. The pictures of streets provide a record of the public traffic facilities, (cart, omnibus, horse drawn tram, tram, bus). In the second half of the XlXth century the main symbol of industrialization was the railway bringing towns closer and closer to each other. Publishers of the picture cards thought it would be good business to reproduce pictures of everyday and famous trains, the stations of villages and towns, terminals, railway constructions and locomotive types. Picture cards of the great liners which docked in Fiume and transported the emigrants to America were sent to Hungary too. From the turn of the century, as the tourism around the Lake Balaton boomed, pictures of the Hungarian stream ships appeared.