Transcribing and translating postcards can be a surprisingly difficult task. As they are so short, you may think they would be simple to decipher – but the lack of a large handwriting sample plus the lack of context can quickly add up to a frustrating combination. If you can’t read one letter, there are often no other samples of that same letter to help figure it out. And if you don’t know what the author is talking about, there usually aren’t many context clues to help you puzzle out the rest of the sentence. But don’t despair! In this article, find five tips for making postcard deciphering a bit easier.
1. Start with the front of the postcard.
The front of the postcard will often provide amazing – typed – clues for the handwritten text written on the back. What city was your ancestor writing from? What special landmark did they see? The author of the postcard will often reference what is seen on the front, so be sure to look at the front first before trying to decipher tricky handwritten words on the back. Every bit of context helps!
2. Look at stamps.
The post office stamp (not the one you stick on there, but the stamp stamped on by the post office at the time it was mailed) will have the city it was mailed from typed out! If you can’t read the handwritten city your ancestor wrote at the top of the card, be sure to look at the post office stamp to see the city in typed text. The date should be on that as well!
3. Skip the words you can’t read.
If you can’t read a word in the body of the postcard, skip it and come back to it later. As you continue on with the message, you will get more used to that specific author’s way of writing. You may be able to go back to the skipped word and identify the letters more easily after you have transcribed the rest of the document. You may also have identified a bit more context that would help you figure out that mystery word! See Five Transcription Tips for When You’re Just Stuck for more help.
4. Look for any extra handwritten words.
If your handwritten section just ends abruptly in the middle of the sentence, look above the address section or flip back over to the front to see if they finished their note there. Postcards were obviously short on space, and a lot of authors would use the front to finish up what they were saying!
5. Make sure the postcard is clear.
The better the image resolution is, the easier it will be to decipher the short message on there. Use a software such as Vivid-Pix to restore the image. The clearer it is, the better luck you will have! Also, if you are scanning the postcard into the computer yourself, make sure it is at least 375 DPI. No need to strain those eyes!
I hope these tips help you to decipher your ancestors’ postcards! Once you have them translated, they are so fun to read!