Postcards to Myrtle, 1908-11

Myrtle Murphy was a lively 8-year old living on her family's homestead near Blocksburg in Northern Califonia in 1908. Along with her oldest sister Dorothy and the baby in the family, Velma, she spent many a carefree day roaming the local hillsides, cooling off in the family swimming hole, and riding horseback to the same one-room schoolhouse her father attended as a boy.

Then one day in 1909 little Myrtle took a fall from an apple tree and never recovered. She was buried in the Blocksburg Cemetery on June 26, 1911. She was 11 years old.

While she was sick, she used penny postcards to correspond with family and friends. Today, Myrtle's cards are part of a larger collection of Murphy family correspondence cared for by her niece, June Reger. The cards are beautiful and several have postmarks from other small communities in our area. They also give us a glimpse into the lives of a young girl and her family in rural America near the turn of the century.

You can explore Myrtle's postcards chronologically by following the yellow arrows, or skip around by clicking on the yellow names to the left. When you're finished looking at a postcard, run your mouse over it (JavaScript required for this part) to see the backside. Then click on the card to get a closer look.

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