510504A22A26Dab81B8A876055D827B8

Dissecting “Jumbo”: A Picture Postcard History

This article is part of the MAH's Online History Journal, a collection of original research on local history. Dive deep into Santa Cruz County history in this ever-growing forum and start curating your own. Click here to explore other articles like this.


How many stories can a single postcard tell? An early postcard of a tree named “Jumbo”—mailed from Santa Cruz in 1917—was found to contain over twenty topics for investigation. These include explorations of the image, message,
sender, receiver, postmark, stamp, and publisher. Careful observation and the use of a wide variety of research tools helped illuminate this postcard’s many historical features.

Introduction

Old postcards can be rich sources of historical information and offer many avenues for exploring the past. This is the story of just one postcard, a picture of the redwood tree named “Jumbo” at the Santa Cruz Big Trees (now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park).

The postcard was mailed in 1917 by Preston Sawyer of Santa Cruz to M. E. Milner of Kinsley, Kansas. “Thanks very much for your beautiful card,” he wrote. “I see you have been having tornadoes, etc. in your state. Any of them near Kinsley? Preston Sawyer, 169 Garfield St., Santa Cruz, Calif.” Who were Preston Sawyer and M. E. Milner? Why was the tree called “Jumbo”? Why the flag sticker on the back? In all, I found over twenty topics to investigate. It turns out that even something as “simple” as a single postcard can provide multiple windows into history.

How many stories can a single postcard tell? An early postcard of a tree named “Jumbo”—mailed from Santa Cruz in 1917—was found to contain over twenty topics for investigation. These include explorations of the image, message, sender, receiver, postmark, stamp, and publisher. Careful observation and the use of a wide variety of research tools helped illuminate this postcard’s many historical features.

Introduction

Old postcards can be rich sources of historical information and offer many avenues for exploring the past. This is the story of just one postcard, a picture of the redwood tree named “Jumbo” at the Santa Cruz Big Trees (now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park).

The postcard was mailed in 1917 by Preston Sawyer of Santa Cruz to M. E. Milner of Kinsley, Kansas. “Thanks very much for your beautiful card,” he wrote. “I see you have been having tornadoes, etc. in your state. Any of them near Kinsley? Preston Sawyer, 169 Garfield St., Santa Cruz, Calif.” Who were Preston Sawyer and M. E. Milner? Why was the tree called “Jumbo”? Why the flag sticker on the back? In all, I found over twenty topics to investigate. It turns out that even something as “simple” as a single postcard can provide multiple windows into history.

Read More
Keep reading to uncover the secrets and tales behind the 'Jumbo' postcard.
Keep Reading

More Local History

Dive deep into Santa Cruz County history in this ever-growing forum and start curating your own.