Antique & Vintage Postcards

A gleaming red-and-black Concord stagecoach — Wells Fargo & Co. Overland Stage, U.S. Mail eagle emblazoned on its door — sits under museum lighting at the Wells Fargo Bank Historical Collection inside the San Francisco Building on Treasure Island, host of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, and someone thought it important enough to mail home to Port Huron, Michigan, writing in careful script that this 1853-built coach ran the Overland Trail from "Hangtown," California, to Carson City, Nevada, from 1861 to 1869. Posted August 20, 1939 from San Jose, California, with a 1-cent Washington green stamp, this linen-era card carries a message signed by two travelers — Fred and Alfred — telling their friend they're "ready to go home soon," a warm and entirely human coda to a summer World's Fair adventure on the cusp of the Second World War. The card doubles as primary-source documentation of the Treasure Island Exposition exhibit, making it of interest to both Wells Fargo history collectors and World's Fair enthusiasts.