Love the look of early 1900's holiday greeting cards? Me too! Here are 9 of my favorite Christmas postcards from the early years of the 20th century. Download and print them at home to send your loved ones holiday greetings with a vintage flair this year!
Back when I lived on Martha's Vineyard, there used to be a big old barn-turned-bookstore, which I loved to haunt on rainy weekend days. I could spend hours poring over the creaky shelves loaded with books, that filled every inch of the old stall barn and lofts.
One of my favorite nooks though, was a dark little corner that was home to a beat-up old cardboard box, which was crammed to the gills with vintage postcards and cabinet cards.
That dark little nook was where my love of old correspondence paraphernalia was born. My absolute favorites were always the vintage Christmas cards and postcards from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Cards of that era tend to be sweet, sentimental, and charming - and very often a little quirky!
Those old cards in the book shop tended to be rather pricey though, and were more than I could spend. So very few ever made it home with me. I didn't start actually start collecting vintage postcards until many years later.
One day I happened to be looking on eBay at images of old Christmas postcards, searching for some ideas to make my own homemade holiday greetings. There are often old postcards that go up for sale in lots, and they're so much fun to scroll through!
One batch of cards in particular caught my eye, and since I was looking in August (yep, I get the Christmas bug early!), the whole lot was going for really cheap. I couldn't not bid on them - and ended up winning the auction.
That Christmas, I was planning to tuck the vintage postcards into these photo frame cards, and send them to friends and family. But when the time came, I just couldn't bring myself to part with the originals!
So I carefully scanned them, and printed copies onto high quality watercolor note cards instead.
They came out beautifully, and now I can print extras of my favorite vintage holiday cards any time I need one. And - so can you!
To download any of these lovely old cards, all you have to do is click on the image you want. It will take you to the full-resolution image, and from there, you can print them at whatever size you'd like.
These are my hands-down favorite postcards for printing vintage images like this, by the way. There are cheaper ones out there for sure, but the texture on these truly complements the historic look of these cards.
Because these vintage Christmas postcards are from the first two decades of the 1900's, their images now fall into the public domain, so I'm able to freely share them here with you.
Please feel free to download and enjoy these as you make your own Christmas cards and crafts.
(Uploading these scans to another website is, however, prohibited.)
I'm excited to share with you these nine favorites from my stash! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Doesn't it make you wonder about the lives of those who sent and received them? I surely do!
Wishing you the merriest of holidays, and loads of fun as you use these images to create your own special Christmas greetings!
Have fun crafting!
Anna Chesley
Anna Chesley is a freelance writer living a homestead lifestyle, with a special love for family travel, old books, vintage skills, and seaside living. In addition to founding Salt In My Coffee, she runs the website, New England Family Life, as well as The 1800's Housewife, a website devoted to re-creating authentic 1800's recipes.
Tim B says
A lovely assortment of vintage classic Christmas cards, thank you so much for sharing them