How were early photographic post cards made? Many were of photos of families in front of their homes.?
March 14th, 2010 | 
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The post cards are old photos on the front with a very simple post card format printed on the back. The examples we have in our old family photos were made in the northern Indiana area.
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It was very common during pioneer days & up until about the 1930’s to have those postcards made. They were made by traveling photographers: men & rarely women, would arrive at the family’s home in a horse drawn wagon.
The wagon looked alot like a gypsy wagon or like the cart of the traveling magician/salesman Dorothy met, just before the tornado hit, in the movie, "Wizard Of Oz". The wagon was closed & dark so it could be used as a darkroom.
These types of photographers traveled around state to state out west. Families often spent a lot of hard earned money on one photo a year so that folks back in the eastern states sould see that they were alive & how their homestead looked. The photos were most often taken outdoors because the lighting was best there. The families often look work weary & in every day clothes because the photographer pulled up, took the picture, and was on his way to the next homestead.
My favorite photo of these is one where there is actually a cow, on the roof of the home, eating the sod off it because the family was so busy posing for the photographer, that no one noticed that the cow behind them had got lose & climbed to the roof. lol.
They were printed on postcard paper, if the family wished, and the photographer would then mail it when he came to the next big town as a favor to the family.
xoxox, Badass Art Girl
There is a photo developing paper that is post card size. The photos were printed and sized to fit on this paper.