PostalPast
← Back to browse

Why Don't You Write? Native American comic, Cumberland, IN, 1913

Subjects
Comics & HumorGeneral GreetingsNative American Life
Card type
Lithograph
Date
c. 1913 (Golden Age)
Front of Why Don't You Write? Native American comic, Cumberland, IN, 1913, Mrs. Minnie Beltzel, WV, USA, c. 1913 lithograph postcard
Front
Back of Why Don't You Write? Native American comic, Cumberland, IN, 1913, Mrs. Minnie Beltzel, WV, USA, c. 1913 lithograph postcard
Back

About this postcard

A figure in a red blanket, seen from behind with a single feather in his hair, stands before three blue teepees with smoke rising. The printed text reads "You" above and "WHY DONT YOU WRITE?" below. The design is a comic reminder-to-write greeting, a popular early-20th-century postcard genre that used mock-heroic or stereotyped imagery to prod a correspondent into answering. The figure's turned back and the question make the card a light reproach to someone who has not written. The scene is a stylized Plains encampment, not a documentary view.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

Respectfully yours, Bernice S

You WHY DONT YOU WRITE ? A. H.—19
PostmarkedCUMBERLAND, IN
Stamp
Addressed to
Mrs. Minnie Beltzel

Petersburg, WV

Postcard record

PostmarkedCUMBERLAND, IN
SeriesA. H.—19
ConditionGood
Place addressedMrs. Minnie Beltzel, Petersburg, WV
Stamp1c Benjamin Franklin, green, issued 1902, perforated vertical sides only
Stamp1c Benjamin Franklin, green, perforated on all sides
NotesThin blue rule border; printed in blue and red on cream stock; handwritten message runs vertically along the right edge; light toning and a faint vertical crease near center. Postmark: CUMBERLAND, IND. 21 8 30 PM 1913 — undivided back with printed "Post Card" heading and "THIS SIDE FOR THE ADDRESS"; 1¢ green Franklin stamp; light soiling, corner/edge wear, faint red smudges.

Cite this card

Why Don't You Write? Native American comic, Cumberland, IN, 1913, postcard, c. 1913. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/why-dont-you-write-native-american-comic-cumberland-in-1913. Accessed November 2, 2026.