Postcards were the right choice for virtually every holiday in early 20th-century America. This example celebrated Independence Day. In the foreground, a Revolutionary War–era soldier draws aside draperies to reveal the U.S. Capitol backlit by the rising sun. The curtain convention became popular in early American portraiture, so its presence, and a border of embossed gold curlicues, gave the card a three-dimensional texture and a grander appearance than the humble minuteman might otherwise imply.
