Name/Title
PostcardEntry/Object ID
2021.008.0027Scope and Content
This is a Frank J. Stumm postcard of the Clocktower at the Benicia Arsenal and with Mt Diablo and the Carquinez Straits in the background. It is a real-photo-postcard. There is a seam on the right side where it looks like part of another photo was married to the main photo. The back is an undivided back with a postmark of 12/8/1905. It is addressed to Miss Anna Roberts of Tulare City in California. The message on the front says "ThePostal of the band is taken on the side of the City Hall. I have 91 Postals now. I have an P. Card Albumn."
On the back of the card is a stamp that has "Benicia" in the center and the initials F.J.S.. This same view is on other Stumm postcards but as a lithographic print. This card does not show any printing information so it may be a card that Frank Stumm created himself and sold from his shop.
This image of the Clock Tower and Mt. Diablo was a favorite of Frank Stumm's. He made multiple postcards from this image in various formats. We can almost follow the progression of his postcard business in this one image.
Early cards were undivided back Real-Photo-Postcards (RPPC). They are negatives printed on postcard stock and are in black & white. One is postmarked 1905 and they are not identified as Stumm cards unless they have been hand stamped on the back.
1993.055.0032
2021.008.0027 1905 postmark (has a stamp from Frank Stumm on the back)
The next cards were undivided back cards but published by the Albertype Company in New York. These were still in B&W but were lithographic printed cards. Stumm had his name printed in the card and the back shows number 327 for these postcards. The inscription reads: 'Panorama of Benicia Arsenal and Mount Diablo'.
1994.003.0067
2017.030.0144
2017.030.1025
Finally, Stumm had undivided back cards printed in Germany and produced colorized versions of this image. These cards are numbered 6902 and inscribed 'BENICIA, CAL. Panorama of Army Point. U.S. Arsenal in foreground.'
2007.004.0008
2017.030.0277
2017.030.1034
2019.099.0017 (inscription cut off)
The last version of this image, in our collection, is a colorized divided back card that doesn't show where it was printed. It is numbered 19425 and the inscription is 'Army Point, Benicia Arsenal and Mt Diablo'. We also have a photographic version of this card without the inscription and in B&W. Not sure how this was used but the inscription and number are written on the back of the photo as well as something in a foreign language. Possibly these were the publisher's notations.
2006.044.0404
2017.030.0124
2019.002.0016 (B&W photo of postcard image)
Interestingly, Stumm took another photograph from this same vantage point years later and made another postcard. We have an example it (2017.030.0145) which doesn't have the square tower or train showing in the first postcard and has smokestacks showing across the Carquinez Straits.Collection
Benicia Historical Museum Collection
