A pen-and-ink drawing on a plain card shows a young woman in a wide, heavily plumed hat with a high lace collar and dark jacket, drawn in bold hatched strokes. The card is headed "My Latest Photo" in the same brown ink, and a chatty note below jokes that the sender was asked for a picture and this sketch is the answer. Such hand-drawn comic self-portraits were a common way of replying to a request for a photograph in the early 1900s, when picture postcards were the everyday medium of correspondence.
Postcard Details
Message · English, in pen
My Latest Photo
Don't think its your fault
cause its my own coloring,
the blame for that Don't
you know? how you always
wanted a picture, so now
how is this.
Frances.
PostmarkedMilwaukee, WI, September 10, 1908, 10:30
Original hand-drawn ink sketch on card stock, not a printed image; heavy overall toning, diagonal crease at upper right, worn corners, and a small stain at left.
Postmark: MILWAUKEE, WIS SEP 10 10:30 AM 1908. Undivided-back government postal card with imprinted McKinley 1¢ stamp; card toned, corner creases, minor stains.
Cite this card
Ink portrait of young woman in plumed hat, Milwaukee, WI, 1908, postcard, c. 1908. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/ink-portrait-of-young-woman-in-plumed-hat-milwaukee-wi-1908. Accessed November 2, 2026.
