The S.S. Dorothy Bradford

I live in Los Angeles and I've always wondered why ships aren't a regular part of local transit.  We've got ferries to Catalina Island, but why not commuter service between Santa Monica and south bay with stops in places like Long Beach and Redondo.   Oh well, just another suggestion to be ignored.

So, the S.S. Dorothy Bradford was built by Neafie & Levy of Philadelphia, PA.  She was built in 1889 for the Cape Cod Steamship Company and was originally named the S.S. Charlotte.  I couldn't find anything on when the name change occurred.   The Cape Cod Steamship Co. went out of business in 1937, and The Dorothy Bradford was sold for scrap after years of servicing the Provincetown route on Cape Cod.  I couldn't find what the other ports on the route were but Boston seems like a good bet as well as the off shore islands. 

This card was published by H.A. Dickerman and Son of Taunton, Massachusetts.  There are a lot of postcard publishers out there and it's not always possible to find out any information about individual  companies, but I did find a bit about H.A. Dickerman.  They were in business from 1907 to 1936.  They specialized in scenics and dominated the Cape Cod market.  There's a postmark on the back, "PROVINCETOWN MASS SEP 5 2 PM 1922"  It was mailed to "James Morris 23 something or other street," (The writer makes their M's, N's, W's and U's all alike.)  "Framingham, Mass."  No message.

Dorothy Bradford was the wife of Puritan William Bradford the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  She fell off the Mayflower and was the first European to drown in New England.   As accomplishments go, not a very notable one.

Cranberries

Again, the original source material for color, linen postcards are almost always hand colored black & white photographs. This one shows black migrant workers harvesting cranberries on Cape Cod.

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Printed on the back, "HARVESTING CRANBERRIES The cranberry is indigenous to Cape Cod. It is a highly profitable and highly specialized business which employs an army of scoopers to skim the great bogs for the Delectable Feast of Thanksgiving." Also, "TICHNOR QUALITY VIEWS MADE ONLY BY THE TICHNOR BROTHERS, INC. BOSTON, MASS."

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Written on the back, "Darling Tina, I wish you were with us, we are just going to the beach. The next time you go with us I suppose you will be swimming better than ever.

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Yesterday was my day to write, but Mummy wrote so I thought I would wait until to-day. Just heaps. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Me."

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Addressed to, "Miss Christine Anderson, Camp Four Winds, Mass Girl Scout Camp, Buzzards Bay, Route 2, Mass."