An hour after the first travel trailer rolled off the assembly line a funny vintage trailer postcard depicting a humorous situation probably rolled out of a printing press. Postcards were an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family while touring the country with a fancy new travel trailer.
For only a penny, you could send a postcard to friends and family to let them know where you were, that you were safe, and having a wonderful time.
Postcards were basically the Facebook of the era and, naturally, a little deliberate bragging was involved. Having the means to buy a travel trailer and tour the country was still a relatively new experience for most middle-class families. If you had the means to buy a car and a trailer in the 1930s you were doing OK for yourself and your family. That gave you the right to share that good fortune via any means necessary and vintage trailer postcards was a fun and affordable way to do it.
In this article, we take a look at 35 funny vintage trailer postcards and learn a bit about the history of postcards in America.
Almost as important as traveling the world was letting the folks back home know where you’d been and what you’d seen.
Trailer Travel
This collection of 35 funny vintage mobile home postcards are mostly from the 1930s and 1940s so they are a bit brazen, for lack of a better word.
Towing a trailer on less-than-perfect roads with a car full of loved ones wasn’t always fun but these postcards have a charming way of making light of the tougher situations. Topics include outhouse humor, over-packing, and scantily dressed women are recurring subject matters.
These postcards weren’t meant to offend anyone, it was just a lighthearted look at the new travel trailer trend that eventually became one of the fastest growing industries in US history. Trailers were the cool new toys and these funny postcards were a great way to depict the antics of traveling with a trailer in a fun way.
I love vintage mobile homes and enjoy learning about American history. Writing this article gave me an opportunity to learn about the history of postcards in America so I’m sharing what I learned while researching about postcards with you.
Deltiology is the study and collection of postcards, a term coined in 1945 from the Greek word deltion, meaning a small writing tablet or letter. It is recognized as the third most popular collecting hobby worldwide, following stamps and currency. (Source: Google Web Guide)
On February 27, 1861, the US Congress passed the — act allowing privately printed cards weighing an ounce or less to be mailed for 2 cents. You could only write the recipient’s address and your return address on the back side of the cards. If you wanted to handwrite a message you had to write on the front of the postcard (over the printed image).
In December of 1861, John P. Charlton (or Carlton as found in other sources), a Philadelphia stationer, obtained the first postcard copyright in America. Here’s an image I found on Wikipedia:
In 1891, the US postal service reduced the rate of mailing a postcard to only 1 penny. This reduced rate and the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 helped cement postcards as a popular collector’s item.
The US Postmaster allowed a redesign of the cards in 1907 to have an area for messages on the back left side. This change brought about the “Golden Age” of postcards between 1907 to 1915.
Between 1915 and 1930 printers saved money on ink by using a white border around the edges of the postcards. This is known as the ‘white border period’ in the postcard collector’s world. You can see a few of these postcards in this article..
From 1930 to 1945, postcards were printed on paper with high rag content which gave it a linen look and feel. Curt Teich & Co. was the most popular postcard printer during this time because of their special printing process. They developed a process that allowed faster printing, drying, and brighter photos. Many of these vintage mobile home postcards you see in this article were designed and printed by Curt Teich & Co.
Click the links below if you’d like to learn more about postcards and the history of postcards in America:
The Smithsonian website has
Learn more about collecting postcards on Collector’s Weekly.
We’ve collected a lot of cool Vintage Mobile Homes.
I found all of these vintage mobile home postcards in these 3 books:
The first book is an all-time favorite called Trailer Travel. I’ve mentioned it several times over the last few years. It has a few pages dedicated to vintage postcards. The vintage mobile home postcards are pages 62, 63, and 64.
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “mobhomliv-20”; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”; amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”; amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”; amzn_assoc_region = “US”; amzn_assoc_design = “enhanced_links”; amzn_assoc_asins = “1586851578”; amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit”; amzn_assoc_linkid = “aacd06023f50060e1fd78c9881ad824e”;Trailerama is my second favorite book. It’s gorgeous and has a ton of great information. It also has a few pages dedicated to vintage mobile home postcards and comics.
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “mobhomliv-20”; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”; amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”; amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”; amzn_assoc_region = “US”; amzn_assoc_design = “enhanced_links”; amzn_assoc_asins = “1423621425”; amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit”; amzn_assoc_linkid = “21c53ac390e1909cf49599ef3a9a2d1f”;The third book is one I didn’t think I would like at all. I had seen it on Amazon for a while but never bought it because the title and the description made the book seem to be unfriendly toward mobile homes, at least it did to me. Plus, the book’s cover doesn’t even have real mobile homes on it. I can’t help but wonder why they chose the image as the cover of their book.
The front cover is a picture of a set for an outdoor play in Europe. The title Don’t Call Them Trailer Trash, The Illustrated Mobile Home Story. It’s actually a very good book with a ton of neat information and photos about the history of mobile homes. If this had a different front cover and perhaps titled ‘The Illustrated Mobile Home Story; Don’t Call Them Trailer Trash,” it would work better, at least for me. I really don’t understand that front cover image at all. Still, if you love vintage mobile homes, this book should be in your collection.
amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “mobhomliv-20”; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”; amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”; amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”; amzn_assoc_region = “US”; amzn_assoc_design = “enhanced_links”; amzn_assoc_asins = “0764352334”; amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit”; amzn_assoc_linkid = “ff6e99bf79c85709c9383437a30922e3”;Have you found any vintage mobile home postcards? We’d love to see them! You can link to them in the comments below or visit our Mobile Home Living: Remodels and Repairs Facebook Group and post them there. There are almost 3,000 members, and we all love and appreciate mobile and manufactured homes.
Please Note: These vintage mobile home postcards are not my own. They are in books that I own, and I just took photos of the postcards with my fancy smartphone. I couldn’t miss the irony of taking photos with a smartphone of photos in a book of 90-year-old postcards.
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LOLOL Great postcards!!
Oh, Thank you so very much! I love to hear from y'all! I do love blogging and just wish I had more time to do it..I appreciate your kind words and hope you do come back often!