Polaroid PostCarders

YEAR: 1958
ITEM: Other
COMPANY: Polaroid Corporation
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes

The Postcarder kit included 25 small postcards (of which 19 are still left). But unlike regular postcards that you bought to share beautiful pictures of the mountains or cities or canyons you were visiting on your vacation, these cards had no pictures! Instead, you affixed your Polaroid picture to the front, wrote your message, affixed a US Post Office stamp, and mailed it to your jealous friends.

As you can see from the instructions, the green paper peels off the front and below it is a sticky surface that you affix the Polaroid picture that you just took!!

Think of it as a very, very, very slow Instagram!!!

Tucked into the back of this small box were three small pieces of paper. One was a Polaroid instruction on how to use a light reducer on the lens and adjust the exposure meter. A second was hand-written "cheat-sheet" on how to set the light meter on the camera. A third was what looks like a hand-written note on the Polaroid Copy Service address and the price for copies.

The date on this could be up to 10 years earlier. We have found ads for the Postcarder in 1959 and 1958 publications.

Get Our Newsletter