Switzerland Postcards With Interesting Correspondents

Part of the fun of having postcards is discovering the history of the correspondents, when possible. Here I'll show a few interesting ones I just found. --Kevin

This one caught my eye because of the addressee name: Alfred D. Chandler, from Brookline MA (the same town as where John F. Kennedy lived, near Boston). Alfred D Chandler Jr. was a celebrated historian and economist. He was also on the Harvard sailing team with JFK in 1940. This postcard was to his father, Alfred D. Chandler Sr.

Here's one addressed to the Board of the Royal and Imperial Eagle Heraldic Society in Vienna (if my translation is correct). The sender is Dr. Carl Keller-Escher, a noted author and expert in genealogy and heraldry. I haven't translated the back, but it looks like he's asking for some family history information.

I believe the next two cards belong grouped with the last one posted. They are both addressed to Dr. Johann B Witting, who was a noted genealogist and heraldist who wrote books on the subjects in the late 1800's. He appears in the 1885 "Journal of the Genealogical-Heraldic Society 'Adler'", which is referenced above. Note also that he is addressed as the "Highborn Gentleman" on one card. Witting may have worked at the consulate in Vienna, as one of the cards is stamped with "Royal and Imperial Austro-Hungarian Consulate."

I love postcards like this, especially when the correspondents are relevant to some interest of mine. Here's one from the same era that I got (and posted elsewhere on the forum) last summer:


It was written by Moriz Winternitz (1863-1937), a noted Sanskrit scholar who became the Professor of Sanskrit at Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague in 1902. The recipient was Friedrich Max Müller (1823-1900), known particularly for his work in Indian studies and comparative religion. Müller was Taylor Professor of Modern European Languages at Oxford University (1854-1868) and Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology (1868-1900), as well as a member of Queen Victoria's Privy Council (1896-1900). Winternitz thanks Müller for sending him an English translation of the Mahabharata and tells him of his own research regarding that particular Sanskrit epic.

Hi Krhudson1:

Great cards! I collect similar items when I find them, mostly covers to date. I have borrowed a term from book collectors for items like these and refer to them as "association" covers. Below are a couple of covers, one to the author James Michener and the other to journalist and author Bob Considine. Your post cards are the better format as they have messages to or from the collected personalities .

Don

Thank you for sharing, erilaz and Don. Fun stuff. My dad would have loved the Michener cover. I think he read his every book!

Here is the correct translation:

After a longer interruption I have finished a bigger genealogical work - the history of the highly respected Zurich patrician family "Hirzel". In agreement with the family I'm willing to send one copy of this not commercially available work to your library. Please tell me, to which address the parcel should be handed over.
Respectfully Dr. C Keller-Escher

It seems if they haven't been interested in this work. The ADLER library still exists, but just has two archieved works of Dr. Keller-Escher ->

https://db.adler-wien.eu/adler_bibl...&criteria=or

And if you need some more information about the author, here it is:

No 19
Keller [-Escher], Carl Caspar
born 27.3.1851 Zurich, died 26.9.1916 Zurich, probably ref., From Zurich. Son of Hans-Kaspar, country writer and notary, and Maria Kornelia Euphemia born. Adorno. #8734; 1880 Anna Maria Escher, daughter of Hans Konrad. Stud. Of Pharmacy in Zurich, 1875 state examination, 1896 phil. Pharmacist in Zurich, 1879-1904 Zurich cantonal pharmacist. 1882-91 Member of the Zurich Gr. City Council, the supervisory comm. the industrial school and the Kant. Collections. 1895-96 Pres. of Switzerland Pharmacist association. K. wrote research on the valuation of drugs, algae and diatoms. He was the author of Genealog., Herald. and pharmaceutics. Studies are known, especially for his works on the Zurich Fam. Escher vom Glas (1885), Hirzel (1899) and Rahn (1914).