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Sami Reindeer Milking Arctic Dairy Lapland Norway Postcard 1910
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Divided Back · 1910

Sami Reindeer Milking Arctic Dairy Lapland Norway Postcard 1910

Lapland, Scandinavia1910Divided BackGood

A Sami man holds a reindeer by the halter on a snow-covered tundra while a woman kneels to milk it — the herd grazing behind them, the low Arctic hills on the horizon. The caption calls it simply "An Arctic Dairy," a wry nod familiar to Edwardian postcard buyers: reindeer milk, richer than cow's milk, was a staple of Sami subsistence life across Lapland and remained in practice well into the 20th century before being largely abandoned as commercial herding replaced it. The Sami — the indigenous people of Scandinavia — had herded reindeer for centuries, migrating seasonally across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. This hand-colored card was mailed from Boston in August 1910, with a dense message from a traveler named Hally to her sister Alta in Vinal Haven, Maine, describing a boat trip where someone was seasick but "warm and all right."

  • Caption: An Arctic Dairy.
  • Postmark: Boston, MA, Aug. 23, 1910
  • Status: Posted
  • Notable stamp: Scott 331 — U.S. 1c Franklin, green, 1908
$14.95
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PC-00561 · The Creighton Co., Portland, ME
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