For background about, and a 1910 photo of, the recipient of this postcard see my previous post about my paternal grandmother, Lydia. As noted there, she immigrated from Finland to Canada where she must have worked in some capacity at Crean Hill (now a ghost town). This postcard predates her marriage to my grandfather in Duluth, Minnesota, around 1913. I ran a translation program (a good one: From Language to Language) on the text in the message, but not knowing the Finnish language I'm unsure of individual letters in some of the words. Roughly, though, here's a glimpse into what Lydia's relative (quite possibly a sister) wrote to her from their hometown of Kauhava, Finland:
Jaljin regards from the native country plate with everybody lamme tervenna. Coming with sprouts Jarhainta for a winter wishes luck.
It doesn't get much more international than this vintage postcard proclaiming the Union postale universelle, or the Universal Postal Union. The languages used in the description are Italian, German, French, Finnish, Swedish, and Russian. The stamps appear to be Russian. It was mailed from Finland to Canada to a girl who later crossed the border into the United States, where she became a citizen.
I had no idea there was a Universal Postal Union and am absolutely fascinated by what I've found out about this important organization. There's nothing I could tell you or copy to this post that would be nearly as enlightening as simply providing you with the link to the video offered by the UPU. (Unfortunately, there isn't a way to easily embed the video here in my post.)
The Universal Postal Union (click here for official website) was established in Berne, Switzerland in 1874. Below is a photo of the UPU Monument in Berne (1909), which was adopted as the official logo of the organization:
Beautiful, isn't it?
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