Illustrated and blank For the Child postcards (1)

The Dutch Children's Stamps Foundation has been issuing picture postcards since as early as 1926 to promote the sale of children's stamps. By analogy with the issuance of PTT postcards featuring a pre-printed postage stamp, the Local Committees of 'Voor het Kind' (For the Child) in the cities of Groningen and The Hague came up with the brilliant idea in 1926 to have an illustrated postcard printed on which a children's stamp serves as postage: 'Voor het kind' postcards.

For the Child postcards initially rejected

De Dutch Child Protection Association (Subsequently, the Dutch Committee for Children's Stamps Foundation) had previously approached PTT to issue postcards with a pre-printed children's stamp. This proved to be non-negotiable for the postal company, as evidenced by the remark: “It must be stated at the outset that the issuance of postcards bearing a printed children's stamp encounters insurmountable objections on the part of the Postal Service.”

The needle in the haystack!

That short messages on postcards can be substantial is evident from the excerpt of text that I came across on this illustrated *Voor het Kind* postcard dated December 28, 1926. In a few words, the 'birth' of a new type of postcard, namely the illustrated *Voor het Kind* postcard, is unveiled by a postcard writer from Haren: “This card was issued for the Labour for the Benefit of the Child. Miss Werkman created the design; I find the Hague one more successful in terms of layout; although the design is quite nice; however, she had very little time for it.” The Groningen postcard with a monochrome illustration of a caring nurse looking after two needy children bears the information text 'For the Child Christmas 1926'. The postcard writer, with her judgment “I find the Hague one more successful in terms of layout,” is quite well-versed in the ins and outs of the designs of the Hague and Groningen postcard variants by the designer. Sophia (Fie) Gerharda Werkman (1915 – 2002), youngest daughter of the famous Groningen Ploeg printer/artist HN Workman [nvph 1631]. She has seen both postcard illustrations. This monochrome illustrated postcard was issued on the initiative of the Local Committee of Groningen. A veiled nurse offers food to a child with the promotional text 'Buy charity stamps For the Child'. I was able to purchase this particularly welcome and unexpected information on a postcard at a fair years ago. To me, this spectacular informative find is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. The 1928 postcard illustration depicts two needy children leaning against each other, both with scarves around their necks, sitting on a doorstep in front of a door. The promotional text 'Help them!' accompanies the two-color linocut illustration by Jan Voerman Jr. in an informative manner, for which two printing runs are necessary. Most likely, both illustrated postcards were published in 1929 by the Local Committees of Groningen and The Hague. The cards differ not only in size but also strikingly in the depiction of the older child protecting a younger child with a blanket. The oldest girl is dressed in either a striped or a checkered dress. The two-colour design is by E. van Hoogstraten. Local committees affix a children's stamp to the postcard before the start of the children's stamp sale. After the sales period ends, remnants remain, which either end up unused (sometimes still bearing a children's stamp) with collectors of postal stationery, or are used in one of the subsequent annual children's stamp campaigns. Thus, the postcard from 1926 bears children's stamps from 1928. From 1930 onwards, the Central Propaganda Committee of the Dutch Association for Child Protection managed the issuance of these postcards from a centrally managed coordination and distribution point in The Hague. The person in charge was Mrs. M. Alting von Geusau. Also in 1930, a blank postcard from Voor het Kind was issued for the first time, without an illustration, containing only text. A blank postcard had two advantages:

• For the postcard publisher, printing a monochrome postcard is cheaper than a multi-colored one.
• For the postcard writer, a postcard without an illustration offers more writing space.

Finally: Have you seen the Voor het Kind postcards from after 1930 and 1927?

Which of the readers has ever seen the illustrated Voor het Kind postcard from 1927? I would appreciate your response. Later, I will focus on illustrated and blank Voor het Kind postcards from after 1930.